Odom not voted a playoff share

DALLAS -- If Lamar Odom made any extra cash this season, it would have been with the reality TV show he did with his wife and not because of anything he did with the Dallas Mavericks.

That's because the Mavs players voted Sunday not to give Odom a share of the playoff money they earned this season.

Instead, the Mavs decided to split their pool of money for finishing with the seventh-best record in the Western Conference and making the playoffs with the remaining 14 players on their roster. With the total pot being $281,937, that means each player will receive $20,138.32.

Odom was supposed to have been this season's prized offseason acquisition when the Mavs picked him up in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers last December. However, instead of becoming an impact player and piggy-backing off the NBA's Sixth Man Award he collected last season, Odom became arguably one of the most intriguing and worst acquisitions in Mavs' history.

In 50 games for the Mavs, Odom averaged career lows of 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds, and shot a career-low 35.2 percent from the field in a career-low 20.5 minutes per game. Then, on Apr. 9 the Mavs parted ways with Odom and placed him on the inactive list for the rest of the season.

"If the Lamar thing would have worked out and if he would have played like the year before when he was the best sixth man, I think we would have had a shot,'' forward Dirk Nowitzki, reffering to the Mavs' chances of advancing in the playoffs. "It would have given us another playmaker, another guy that’s long, that can defend and rebound.

"But for whatever reason the stuff he was going through off the court was just too much. He couldn’t help us the way he wanted, the way we wanted, and we had to move on without him.''

And the Mavs moved on without giving Odom a playoff share.

-- Dwain Price

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Comments

[dm]

"seventh-best record in the Western Conference."?

How about the seventh-worst record in the Western Conference??

[Russell Grant]

As a lifelong Laker fan I was hoping he would adjust to his new situation and do his best for Cuban and the Mavs, but truth is Lamar imploded and never recovered. I'm not surprised they voted not to give him a share of the playoff money. He was himself a distraction. Heck I deserve a playoff share more than Lamar does and I'm an old fat guy in California.

[Linda Singleton]

Mark Cuban was responsible for his team not making it; it sure was not Lamar Odom. Cuban got rid of Tyson Chandler and Barea, guys who helped them win a championship. You are not Odom so you don't know why he took the trade so hard. Loyalty means a lot to a scorpio, I know because I am one, and he caused his demise by running his mouth out of anger; I have shot myself in the foot a few times and learned better. Odom has a woman that is in his corner, like her or not, and he will come back. Hopefully it will be with the Lakers. People react differently to different things and there is no set way to react when you are affected. I remember how jubilant and cocky the Mavericks were when they beat the Lakers and now they know how it feels to rub it in. Dirk and Mavericks could have been 2-0 up on the Thunder if Dirk had not mishandled the ball...they couldn't make a basket and had 9 seconds to defend the Thunder and let them steal the game. They did the same thing in the Game 2, got to almost the end of the 4th quarter and let the Thunder go away with that game. So they need to put the blame where it is. I was hoping the Lakers would get them and they get redemption. I noticed Odom didn't want to play against the Lakers really and he had to adjust to the decision he made out of anger.