Odom's Carcass Is Out; Mavs Make Deron Room

Lamar Odom's stinky stint in Big D is over. Dallas moves his carcass to the Clippers in a 4-way while saving the Mavs the $2.4 mil of room it would've cost to just cut him. But the deal still reeks in this sense: Wait until you see the strip-downs - including an amnesty or giveaway of Haywood or Marion - now needed to finish the clearing of room for Deron. You're about to like Odom even less.

Lamar Odom has created for the Mavs a less-than-perfect world.

I suppose, after this past year, we should be used to that.

If Odom would've agreed to move his contratual deadline from Friday to July 11, Dallas could've used his presence to create a sign-and-trade in its pursuit of Deron Williams. Meanwhile, the Mavs could've retained many other assets as well.

This? It's a less-than-perfect trade.

Yes, Dallas gets rid of the Odious Odom stench. And the Mavs get out from under his contract. Oh, and with things finalized on the three-way with the Clippers and Utah, L.O. gets to go back to LA (yay for him?), Mo Williams goes from the Clippers to Utah (ESPNLA learned of his decision to exercise an option that pushes this deal on) and Dallas gets a $8.9 million TE. Houston is the fourth team in the deal.

Dallas was wise to move the deadline (even a little) and not just cut Odom. That would've wiped out that final year, with a buyout of $2.4 million. That transaction would need to occur by today. It would've be the cleanest way to rid themselves of him. But doing so means the $2.4 million would be charged to the 2012-13 cap and reduce their available spending room for the summer.

Another idea was a simple trade of Odom to a team with 2011-12 cap space. That team can keep or waive him. The Mavs could pitch in something in trade for the other team's trouble. Nobody wanted to play that game.

There was the third way ... the best way: Delay, sign-and-trade for Deron, and toss Odom into that package. That sort of a deal would've in no way saddled Brooklyn; they could've gotten a cheap player and a huge TE ($17M or so) and that's way better than nothing.

And then there is this way. Odom's way, in a sense.

That TE, of course, does nothing to offset what the Mavs now must to do finish clearing out room.

To be able to sign D-Will as a free agent now, the Mavs will have to do all the following:

*Give Odom away in this trade with no player coming back

*Get rid of Haywood (their best center) or Marion (their best defender) by the amnesty process or by a trade with nothing coming back

*Give up their Bird rights on Kidd and Jet

*Lose their BAE and their $5M MLE (they would get a $3M one instead)

*And renounce their trade exceptions.

That's a strip-down, a less attractive roster for Deron Williams to come to. It represents a lot of roster-improving assets lost.

Again, the good news is that the dumping of Odom (and the tricky draft moves) leave the Mavs one amnesty move away from being able to lure the DFW native Deron home with a max salary that would start $17,177,795.

The bad news? Lamar Odom wins ... and represents the gift that keeps on taking.






Now, that's just one piece of the Dallas Mavericks' offseason puzzle. Want every other piece? It's all right here in "The Mavs Summer Planner'' -- the scoop from inside Mavs HQ ... and if you take the free trial and don't find yourself impressed by the depth of coverage in this Premium story, Fish promises to buy you lunch! Seriously! Go Mavs and Go Premium! You won't be disappointed ...