The Dallas Mavericks are going to get a little playoff money — not much at all considering their first round sweep — but Lamar Odom isn’t going to see any of it.
Mavericks teammates voted not to give Odom a share of the team’s playoff money, reports the Star-Telegram.
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.
It speaks to how the Mavs players feel about Odom, but to me it’s also fair. He was happy to walk away from the team to help get his head on straight. It’s about effort — if guy 14 on the bench doesn’t have the talent to contribute much but he shows up to every practice and puts in the effort, if he is there when called on he has been part of the team. Was Odom really ever part of the Mavs?
Dallas let him walk away from the team but they did not release him — they still have him under contract. Which has one more year on it at $8.3 million, but he can be bought out for $2.4 million if you do it by June 29.
June 29 is one day after the NBA draft, and the Mavericks are shopping Odom around now for a draft-day trade, reports ESPNDallas.com.
Expect him to get moved and bought out and become a free agent. Then, wherever he signs next year (I would be a place he is comfortable having played there before, one of the two Los Angeles teams or Miami) he will play well again. His head will be back on right. And Mavs fans will be even more ticked off.