Lakers Break Communication With Lamar Odom...For Now

The Lakers pulled their contract offer for free agent forward Lamar Odom yesterday. The LA Times is reporting that the Lakers had two offers on the table. One was a three-year deal worth $30 million. The other was a four-year deal worth $36 million.

Apparently, Lakers owner Jerry Buss grew tired of waiting for Lamar Odom and his agent Jeff Schwartz to contact him back. The offers were on the table for a week, and when word spread that Odom and his agent were in talks with Mark Cuban and Pat Riley, Buss pulled the offer.

The Mavericks and Heat can only offer Odom a mid-level exception contract at $5.8 million annually over five years, which brings the total at $34 million. The Lakers can offer more money up front in a shorter amount of time, but it's longevity which Odom seeks.

What makes the offers from Dallas and Miami more intriguing is that there are no state income taxes levied in Texas and Miami, thus making his long-term contract more valuable. Factor in that Lamar has stated in the past how much he loves living by the beach, and Miami becomes an even more likely destination.

Sure, Pat Riley traded him, but he reluctantly did so to win a championship (by bringing in Shaquille O'Neal in 2004.) He has often compared Odom to Magic Johnson, and this would be a great gesture on his part to bring Lamar Odom back to play with Dwayne Wade. What better way to entice your franchise player to stay than bringing in a champion who's a proven match-up nightmare.

Ultimately, Odom is looking for a 5-year $50 million deal. Deep down inside, he must know that he won't get anything near that, especially in this economic climate, but he sure is trying. After all, if the Dallas and Miami scenarios don't work, Portland might be back in the running.

Reports are that Utah is willing to take a bank loan to match Portland's offer sheet to free agent Paul Millsap. This would put the Jazz into major luxury tax territory but Utah has all the way until February of next year to trade Carlos Boozer before they take a major money hit.

The Trailblazers interest in Lamar Odom has been "lukewarm" at best, but this would give even more leverage to Lamar Odom in his free agency negotiations. People all around the NBA have been wondering why Portland hasn't gone after Lamar Odom harder. After all, they almost had Hedo Turkoglu on board for a 5-year $50 million deal, and Odom might be the better player.

Portland could finally be forced to make a smart move, and sign the valuable Lamar Odom to a contract, which the Lakers would be pressed to match. Not only would the signing of Lamar Odom make the Blazers a better team, it would significantly weaken the defending champs.

Looking at all these scenarios, I still believe that we have not heard the last of the Lakers and Lamar Odom. Lakers public relations director John Black stated that "Talks have broken down for the time being," but when asked if future negotiations could begin anew, Black said "That's within the realm of possibility."

However, there's one thing you don't want to do to the Lakers, and that's cross Jerry Buss. Shaquille O'Neal tried to do it in preseason game in Hawaii back in 2003. After Shaq converted on a dunk, he looked over to Buss, and told him to quote "Pay me mother******." A summer later, and he was gone.

Kobe bad mouthed Buss when he wanted to be traded in the summer of 2007, and he was almost traded to the Chicago Bulls, before Kobe reneged the deal after seeing what shambles of a team he would end up with.

And as recently as this summer, Buss moved quickly by snatching Ron Artest, when the Trevor Ariza negotiations went south. Buss is currently vacationing in Hawaii, so he might be in a better mood when he comes back. That's only if he wants to come back to the table with however.

Odom has stated numerous times in the past that he would love to come back, and playing with Ron Artest is something he would very much enjoy doing, as he told me in an interview I conducted with him at the Lakers Championship DVD screening on Monday.

The Lakers offers to Odom were more than fair, but Team Odom is trying to find a way to squeeze some extra millions out of them. It's unfortunate that it has come down to this, but I will never criticize a player for trying to make more money. Both sides are playing hard ball, and sooner or later someone is going to give.

The Lakers would be foolish to give Lamar Odom a 5-year $50 million contract to a player who comes off the bench, and shows up once a week. Their two offers were very fair for a chance to play on a championship team, that could add more trophies, and add a Laker Legacy to his name. If Odom could help the Lakers win a number of more championships, who's to say that his jersey won't be up in the rafters along with West, Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, and Johnson.

Both sides want to get this done. It's just a matter of how much more, and how much longer this is going to take.