Larry Brown Sports

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.

When Lamar Odom and Kris Humphries were paired against each other for a jump ball during the fourth quarter of the Clippers-Nets game Saturday, the fact that the two were former brother-in-laws via the Kardashian family was not lost on the Los Angeles crowd.

Initially, Humphries was going to jump against Blake Griffin, but after Humphries kept pointing that Odom was supposed to jump, the officials made the change. The crowd began to loudly cheer, knowing that they were about to see two Kardashian clan members go heads-up against each other on the court.

The Clippers ended up winning the game 101-95 thanks to Chris Paul’s amazing play in the fourth quarter, but the real victors were the savvy crowd members who recognized they were witnessing a great moment in basketball history.

Chest bump to Beyond the Buzzer

The Los Angeles Clippers embarrassed the Dallas Mavericks in a 112-90 win on Wednesday night. They jammed all over Dallas and practically put together a season’s worth of highlights in the game. One play that won’t make that highlight reel came from Lamar Odom. He pretty much encaspulated his past two seasons in the NBA with the layup he botched during a 3-on-1 fast break in the third quarter.

H/T Black Sports Online via Hot Clicks

Lamar Odom is in his first season with the Clippers* and apparently his heart (or head) is still with the Lakers. While shooting an ad for the Clippers, he mistakenly said he plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Who can really blame him? Odom played seven seasons for the Lakers and is most prominently identified with that team. He probably just said that out of habit, just like the way I recently wrote that Peyton Manning plays quarterback for the Colts before catching myself.

That’s alright, Lamar, the good news is you chose the right LA team to play for.

*The first season in his second stint with the team. He was drafted by the Clips and played the first four seasons of his career with the Clips.

Are Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian headed for a divorce? That’s what one media outlet is reporting.

Star Magazine has a cover story saying Odom met with a divorce attorney because he wants to end his marriage with Khloe. From the magazine (via Hollywood Life):

Read The Rest of the Story…

Lamar Odom and wife Khloe Kardashian reportedly are fighting over their reality TV future.

According to Hollywood Life, Khloe’s mom/manager Kris Jenner wants her daughter to do a new reality TV show with husband Lamar, but he is not interested.

The show would talk about the couple’s struggle to conceive a baby, and Khloe’s new role as host of “The X Factor.”

Khloe is said to be interested because she wants to follow her mom’s advice and plan, but Lamar is opposed for a few reasons. He reportedly feels their struggles to have a baby are a private matter, and he also reportedly feels like their previous reality show as detrimental to his basketball career. Blessed to have a shot with the Clippers this season, he doesn’t want to screw up the opportunity.

The report makes plenty of sense. In April, we shared a report that Lamar was cancelling a reality show so he could focus on his basketball comeback after a disastrous year in Dallas. It looks like he values his basketball career and is doing what he can to ensure he’s prepared for it. This is a great sign for Clippers fans, but they better hope the personal issues between Lamar and Khloe are sorted out so that he isn’t further distracted.

Lamar Odom could be on his way back to playing in Los Angeles. But it probably won’t be for the Lakers.

The Clippers are reportedly trying to work a deal to acquire Odom from the Mavericks. Odom, who spent his first four years in the league with the Clippers, would certainly welcome a return to L.A., where’s played all but two years of his career. But it’s not clear how disappointed he would be over his return to the city not being with his old pals on the Lakers (or how frustrating it’s going to be explaining to the Kardashians that L.A. has a whole other basketball team).

Ironically, though, the Lakers might play some role in the Clippers’ acquisition of Odom. Here’s ESPN’s Marc Stein:

The Los Angeles Clippers have engaged in trade discussions to bring Lamar Odom back to the L.A. team that drafted him, according to sources close to the situation.

Yet the deal, sources said, could hinge on the willingness of a third team to take on the contract of Clippers veteran guard Mo Williams, which would allow the Dallas Mavericks to send Odom to the Clippers with no significant money coming back to the Mavericks. [...]

Sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday that one team to express interest in Williams is the Los Angeles Lakers, who still have a trade exception big enough to absorb Williams’ contract that they created when they dealt Odom to Dallas.

Many believe Odom’s disastrous season in Dallas was due in part to being away from L.A., which has become a home to Odom and is where his TV family lives. Well, this potential trade might be the defibrillator his career needs. And even though he would probably prefer to be with the Lakers, at least these are much different times than when he was last on the Clippers.

H/T I am a GM
Photo: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE