DALLAS _ Mark Cuban put to rest speculation that Lamar Odom wants the Dallas Mavericks to buy him otu of his contract so he can go play for the Los Angeles Clippers.
"We're not going to buy out anybody,'' Cuban said before Tuesday's game against the New Jersey Nets. "There's no reason to and we're not going to do it.
"I say that purely just to shut the questions up.''
But the questions kept coming, since Odom missed last Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Mavs have already announced that he'll miss tonight's game against the Nets and Wednesday's game in Memphis.
Odom reportedly is in Los Angeles because his father is ill. But he's never really had a close relationship with his dad, leading to speculation that something else is amiss.
At least two players and one high-ranking NBA official who were in Orlando for last week's All-Star game said Odom wants out of Dallas, and wants to play for the Clippers, who drafted him in 1999.
Asked if Odom, whom the Mavs acquired from the Lakers in December, will be here the remainder of the season, Cuban said: "That's the assumption, yeah. There's no reason to think otherwise.
"You can say that about every guy on the roster.''
Odom is averaging 7.7 points and 4.5 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game. He also is shooting just 35.7 percent form the field and 25.9 percent from three-point range.
Except for the three-point shooting, those are all career-low numbers for Odom.
-- Dwain Price
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@dwainprice
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