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After a disastrous year in Dallas where his statistical production collapsed before the Mavs sent him home, the Lamar Odom redemption tour in 2012 hasn't exactly gone according to plan.
Dallas faces the former Sixth Man of the Year for the first time since his ugly exit on Wednesday, and despite moving back to LA to play with the Clippers, it doesn't appear that too much has changed for Odom.
After showing up to training camp visibly overweight and in stunningly poor shape, he's averaging 2.2 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist on 30% shooting. Through his first 17 games, his PER (6.4) is actually worse than last season (9.2).
And while all manner of explanations have been posited for the remarkably steep decline of the two-time NBA champion, perhaps the most obvious has been staring us in the face the whole time.
Shawn Kemp, another player with all-time great talent, never recovered from showing up laughably out of shape after the 1999 lockout. Lamar Odom, it appears, may be about to join that exalted company.