DALLAS — Attempting to calculate which Lamar Odom
misdeed constitutes the final straw of his four-month experience with the
Dallas Mavericks is like trying to state definitively which drop started a rainstorm.
Was it one of many incidents of on-court loafing? Was it Friday before the
Portland loss, when as FOXSportsSouthwest.com first reported, Odom strolled
into the gym late despite the fact that he lives across the street from the
American Airlines Center at the W Hotel? Was it a verbal confrontation with
teammate Dirk Nowitzki after Saturday's loss at Memphis?
Or was it an exchange with owner Mark Cuban at halftime of that game — what
turned out to be Odom's final contest before being put on Dallas' permanent
"inactive'' list for the rest of the season — that served as the tipping
point?
"Well, yeah," said Cuban on Tuesday before his Odom-less team took on
the Sacramento Kings. "Just his response to (Cuban's question about his
readiness). Everybody goes through ups and downs. Every player does. We tried
to put him in a position to succeed. You guys saw it, saw what we did. It
didn't work.''
The specific exchange between an emotional Cuban and a lethargic Odom:
Cuban: "Do you want to go for it or not? Are you in or are you out?''
Odom: "Stop playing games.''
Cuban: "I guess that means you're out.''
Odom was slow to get from the locker room to the bench to begin the second half
in Memphis and after the game, a source told DallasBasketball.com early
Tuesday, was verbally confronted by team leader and MVP Nowitzki. Cuban says no
Mavs player approached him asking for Odom's dismissal, but that sounds like an
owner taking bullets for his players -- just as so many of the Mavs have so
frequently taken bullets for Odom, a practice that ended late in the night in
Memphis when Nowitzki was asked an Odom-related question and replied with
exasperation.
"I'm done talking about that,'' Nowitzki said.
So it is left to Cuban to explain what at the time seemed like a no-brainer, a
cheap acquisition of a secondary star destined to be bought out in the summer
of 2012 for cap room that would aid Dallas in its pursuit of Deron Williams.
"In any deal, sometimes you're on the right end, sometimes, you're on the
wrong end,'' said Cuban, stubbornly insisting he'd make the same trade again.
Then the owner essentially shared the blame with the deposed Odom.
"It's my team. It's my responsibility,'' Cuban said, adding, "It's not that
(Odom) can't play. He just has to choose to.''
And obviously, Odom’ didn’t.
Odom, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year acquired for a draft pick from the
Lakers during training camp, is statistically half the player he's usually
been. He's averaging career-lows in points (6.6), rebounds (4.2), assists
(1.7), shooting percentage (35.2) and minutes (20.5) this season.
That Saturday game at Memphis was an important one in Dallas' chance for the
playoffs, Cuban noted, "And he wasn't connecting to that. And if
you're not positive energy, you're negative energy.''
