Before this summer, I would have said Lamar Odom was a shoe-in to return to the Los Angeles Lakers. Even during the championship parade, you could feel it in the air. All these guys are like brothers, and there's no doubt everyone's coming back. The 3 unrestricted free agents were Trevor Ariza, Shannon Brown, and Lamar Odom. However, things started unraveling when Ariza's negotations failed to materialize. As soon as he left, the uncertainty of Odom became realistic. He was no longer a guarantee to return, and with the absence of Ariza's elite defense and clutch play (even with Artest's arrival), the need to keep Odom became ever more apparent.
As it stands, Odom is wavering between staying with the Lakers and returning to his former team, the Miami Heat. Lakers owner Jerry Buss had originally offered Odom a 3 year, $30 million guaranteed contract, but currently there is no deal on the table (after Odom failed to respond to the original offer). Miami is poised to offer Odom a 5 year contract, starting at the MLE ($5.8 million), but there appears to be no official word on whether the offer is on the table.
What originally seemed to be a 95/5 chance of Lamar returning to the Lakers before the summer started now appears to be 50/50. And with the leadership and versatility he brings off the bench as an elite 6th man (who can also be an occasional starter at the 4 if need be), this is a coin-flip the Lakers do not want to lose.
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