National Basketball Association

Report: Odom still hurt about being dealt

Published Jan. 15, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Dallas Mavericks forward Lamar Odom admits he is still struggling to come to terms with how the Lakers moved to trade him last month and says he could not help but take the situation personally.

Odom was involved in a deal blocked by NBA commissioner David Stern that would have seen him sent to New Orleans, Pau Gasol to Houston and Chris Paul to the Lakers.

Shocked by the deal -- which he says was not communicated to him at all by the Lakers -- he opted to miss the first two days of training camp before asking to be traded. He was then dealt to the Mavericks for a future first-round draft pick.

"It was impossible for me not to take it personally," Odom said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Sunday night.

"When I spoke to one of the representatives for the Lakers, the first thing he said was, 'Don't take it personally.' That means it's personal if that's the first thing someone says to you."

Odom, who found out he was involved in the attempted Paul trade from a Times report, added, "For them just to [try to] trade me without communicating, it made me start to ask myself questions like, 'Why would they do something like that?'

"It hurt my feelings. Why would they choose to go that route? My father lives in California and I take care of my dad. They know about my family situation, everything about me, everything about Lamar."

Odom said it was possible his role in a reality TV show with his wife Khloe Kardashian may have had something to do with the decision.

"Were those the reasons I got traded? Because I don't know what I did," he said. "I never was told, 'This is why they're doing it.'

"I was told from the guy that represents me, who is good at what he does, that it's a straight money thing. They just wanted to get rid of money. I thought we had established the type of relationship that if that was the case, they'd just tell me."

Odom will make his first return to the Staples Center since he was traded on Monday night when the Lakers host the Mavericks.