Larry W. Smith/European Pressphoto AgencyJ.R. Smith, left, of the Knicks, trying to block Lamar Odom’s shot in March in Dallas.In a season not exactly lacking in dramatic narratives, Lamar Odom’s fall from championship complement to tabloid punch line provided perhaps the best combination of strangeness and sadness.
On Dec. 11 the Lakers dealt Odom, the mercurial forward who had just posted the highest player efficiency rating of his 11-year career (19.4), and a second-round pick in the 2012 draft to the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. The price: a future first-round pick and an $8.9 million trade exception for the cap-strapped Lakers, who felt compelled to make the move after being stymied in their efforts to land point guard Chris Paul in a broader deal days earlier.
Widely known as someone who does not always thrive in unfamiliar surroundings, Odom struggled in Dallas, posting career lows in just about every major statistical category, including minutes (20), points (6.6), rebounds (4.4) and the aforementioned player efficiency rating (a lowly 9.2). On April 9, after months of back page acrimony and speculation, Odom and the Mavericks parted ways.
Now, the Knicks may be in a position to bring the versatile forward aboard.
Last week, reports surfaced indicating the Knicks were atop Odom’s wish list of potential off-season suitors. For that to happen, both sides will need a financial sleight of hand. The Mavericks have until June 29 to find a potential trade partner on whom they can unload Odom and his $8.2 million salary.
Regardless of which team holds Odom’s rights on that day, it will have two choices: keep Odom aboard and pay him in full; or waive him to the tune of a $2.4 million buyout. Considering his precipitous decline in production this year, it’s not a given that another team will assume the risk that a disengaged Odom clearly presents. As such, there is a strong possibility that any team looking to deal for Odom will be doing so under the auspices of opening cap space, making the possibility that Odom ultimately gets the waiver ax that much more likely.
Which brings us back to the Knicks. Assume for a moment that someone – be it Dallas or its theoretical trade partner – decides to waive Odom, thereby making him an unrestricted free agent. At that point, he could very well find his way to Manhattan. But given how many ducks the Knicks have in line, with the contracts of Jeremy Lin, Landry Fields, J.R. Smith, Steve Novak and Jared Jeffries all up in the air, signing Odom will have to be done on the thinnest of shoestrings.
But if Odom – born and raised in Queens and by all accounts fully fond of his native city – is willing to do what Baron Davis did and sign for the veteran’s minimum, it will be another coup for a Knicks front office once again trying to thread the eye of the salary needle.
As for the actual roster, and Odom’s potential role therein, the fit could not be more ideal. At 6 feet 10 inches, Odom is a veritable Swiss army knife of skills and strengths, all of which the Knicks could use. As the first forward off the bench, Odom would be the perfect plug-in for Amar’e Stoudemire, while giving the second unit – marshaled as it very well could be by the enigmatic Toney Douglas – a second reliable ball handler through which myriad halfcourt sets could be run. Couple that with serviceable rebounding and defense, and a long-renowned passing prowess, particularly out of the post, you have a player whose versatility and dynamism could do wonders for a top-heavy team pining for depth.
At 32 and not far removed from one of the most productive seasons of his career, it is hard to think of Odom as merely biding his time in the twilight. His strange stint in Dallas revealed the darker side of a psyche ravaged by too many tragedies to count, and to that end his agent’s remark that Odom is just looking for a place to “be comfortable” is likely an accurate one. The fact that Odom’s native New York happens to be one of the places should be enough to give any Knicks fan positive pause.
For a franchise too often content to overpay past-prime talent, getting Lamar Odom on the cheap would prove not only a wallet-friendly move, but one chock-full of homecoming intrigue as well. Now that Mike Woodson’s extension has put a stop to Phil Jackson’s full-circle swan song, the return of a prodigal – and prodigiously talented – son seems not a bad consolation prize.
Jim Cavan is a contributing writer at KnickerBlogger.net, a member of the ESPN TrueHoop network. You can find him on Twitter (@JPCavan).