Lakers vs Heat: Who Gets Lamar Odom?
Written July 27, 2009 by Jack Jones
Yahoo! Sports is currently reporting that their sources say that Lamar Odom is leaning toward signing with with Miami Heat. Nothing is final, but it seems the Heat have become the front-runners in the negotiations for Odom.
Laker’s owner, Jerry Buss, originally offered Odom a four-year $36 million contract, with $30 million of that guaranteed, however, has since pulled the offer from the table. The offer from Miami is reportedly for five years and $34 million, or a four-year deal for less guaranteed money that would allow Odom the freedom to become a free agent after the 3rd year of his contract with Miami.
Odom averaged 11.4 points and 8.2 rebounds with the Lakers last year and was a key component to their success, giving them a lot of versatility coming off of the bench.
Looking at the NBA odds to win the Finals in the 2009-2010 season, the Lakers are the clear favorite, listed at +185 odds to repeat. The Heat are listed at +4000, and while Odom would be a nice addition to the team, it certainly doesn’t move them much closer to the Lakers in terms of expectations for next year. Similarly, I would not expect a move by Odom to Miami to have a tremendous negative impact on the Lakers.
You have to wonder what Odom’s motivation is here. On one hand you have a chance to be involved with one of the most successful franchises in the history of professional sports, coming off of an NBA Finals Championship, returning most of your important pieces, and coming into the season as the favorite to win it all. He would probably take slightly less money and he would still be coming off of the bench, but wouldn’t that be worth it to most players? Miami isn’t a bad team, but they aren’t the Lakers. What do you think Lamar Odom’s motivation is for leaving the Lakers? Is it just the money and maybe the chance to play more? Would you rather have those personal perks or be part of something potentially special with the Lakers?
If you plan to do any NBA betting this upcoming season, but sure you jump on board with NBA picks from the best handicappers in the industry!
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- Denver Nuggets Los Angeles Lakers Game 6 Predictions
- Los Angeles Lakers Utah Jazz Game 5 Predictions
- Los Angeles Lakers Houston Rockets Game 7 Predictions
- Hawks/Heat & Nuggets/Hornets Odds
- Miami Heat Atlanta Hawks Game 6 Predictions
2 Responses to “Lakers vs Heat: Who Gets Lamar Odom?”
Got something to say?
Yeah let’s look at the odds on betting to decide who will win the nba championship next year! (sarcasm)
Chalmers Artest
Boozer? = Gasol
O’neal > Bynum
Looks like this man who wrote the article needs to take a look at the starters himself before trusting some random betting odds shit. go heat mv3-2010
Reply
Jack Jones Reply:
July 27th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
The betting odds are far more accurate than most measures of predicting who will win the NBA Championship. What metric(s) are you using?
Reply