Lamar Odom spent last season with the Dallas Mavericks and had the worst season of his career. When the Mavericks acquired the 12-year veteran, they thought they would be getting the same type of versatile role player the Los Angeles Lakers had during the seven previous years. That did not happen, and Odom’s only season in Dallas ended with the team paying him to not be on the roster.
As you might expect, Mark Cuban was not happy. On Tuesday, Odom told ESPNDallas.com that he would apologize to Cuban for the way things went if he had a conversation with the Dallas owner. However, he also stressed the fact that he doesn’t feel guilt over it.
“Guilty? No, no, no,” Odom said. “It happens. I was telling one of my friends, right, that you got some people, they meet and they can be married for 40 years and after 40 years they get a divorce. They could have been high school sweethearts. Then you got people that meet one night, have a glass of wine with each other and they talk and then they’re married for 100 years.
“This is a relationship-built business. Sometimes people just see things differently.”
Cuban and Odom saw things a lot differently, as evidenced by the reported halftime confrontation they had when Lamar’s career in Dallas was nearing its end. When asked what he would want to apologize for, Odom said that is between him and Cuban. He added that Cuban might also want to apologize, but I wouldn’t be so sure about that.
For whatever reason, it simply didn’t work out. Cuban even tried giving Odom personal pep talks, but some feel that Lamar was so hurt by the Lakers trading him that he was never the same after it happened. He’s only averaging 4.1 points with the Los Angeles Clippers this season, so perhaps Odom is simply getting old. Father Time catches up to everyone.
