After all the uproar the failed Chris Paul trade had caused and an attempted revival of the trade this weekend it appears the deal is finally off.
And it’s the Mavericks who swoop in and blow up the talks with the acquisition of Lamar Odom.
ESPNSteinLine
So to recap: Lakers take Odom out of three-team CP3 deal and deal him to Mavs into new DAL trade exception created in Tyson Chandler deal
Odom is a versatile player and would fill a need on this basketball team. He could step into the small forward starting role, spell Nowitzki at power forward and has played center at times.
He averaged 14.4 points and 8.6 rebounds in route to winning the NBA's sixth man of the year award on the Los Angeles Lakers last season.
He also possess a team friendly deal ($8.9 for ‘11—’12 with a team option for the ‘12/’13 season) which would not effect the Mavericks’ pursuits on the free agent market in 2012 and gives them a valuable trading chip.
The Mavericks acquired the trade exception in order to be opportunistic and within hours they had struck.
UPDATE: In addition to absorbing Odom's contract via trade exception, the Mavericks will send the Lakers a future first round pick within the next six years. That pick will be top 20 protected.