Only Billy Hunter and David Stern can now save us from “Khloe & Lamar in Istanbul.” There may be no greater reason to resolve the lockout and get the NBA players back to work.
Lakers forward Lamar Odom has reached a deal to play with Besiktas in Turkey, joining the team that already has Deron Williams, according to Marc Stein of ESPN. Take it with a grain of salt, Besiktas officials can overstate things, but this may well be accurate.
He stepped in as a deal to bring Williams’ Nets teammate Brook Lopez to Turkey fell apart.Final details will not be sorted out before Friday, sources said, but Odom has indicated that he plans to join the Istanbul-based team as early as next week if the NBA lockout continues.
Sources told ESPN.com that the deal would pay Odom in excess of $2 million if he spends the rest of the season with Besiktas. The deal -- first reported in Turkey by NTV Spor and local journalist Mete Aktas -- will include an opt-out clause to return to the NBA as soon as the lockout ends, same as in Williams’ contract.
Kevin Love, Luol Deng, LaMarcus Aldridge, Carlos Boozer, Marcin Gortat and even Dwight Howard had been reached out to by the bold Turkish side (this is the team that brought in Allen Iverson last year.
Besiktas had gone hard after a new big man after Cleveland Cavaliers big man Semih Erden broke his thumb.
One interesting dynamic here — Odom’s wife is Khloe Kardashian, who is of Armenian descent, a people with a bitter history related to Turkey. There will be howls and protests within the Armenian community aimed at him and his wife if he goes to play there.
If it happens, Odom’s versatile game should fit in well with the European system of play. It’s just the television shows that disturb us.
