Odom Stays with Championship Favored L.A. Lakers

Well that was a lot of talk for nothing! After months of rumors and speculation, the Lakers were able to retain the services of one of their superstars by signing Lamar Odom to a reported 4-year, $33 million contract. The contract is essentially a three-year deal, with a fourth year as a team option. With the signing, the Lakers continue to pile up their payroll, but that risk could reap huge rewards should the Lakers repeat as NBA Champions.

At +250 the Lakers are heavy favorites to repeat in the upcoming NBA betting season. The Cleveland Cavs (+325) and Boston Celtics (+425) are the other big favorites coming out of the East, and the only team the oddsmakers have pegged as a true threat to the Lakers in the West are the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz, both grabbing +1400 odds in our NBA futures. There’s a huge gap between the Lakers and the rest of the Western Conference.

The big signing doesn’t come without its question marks. Lamar Odom is a third banana at best, and with Ron Artest in town at $5.8 million next year stealing a bunch of Odom’s minutes, how does it make sense to bring in Odom at that price tag? The truth is that Trevor Ariza signed in Houston for $5.8 million as well and the idea that L.A. and Houston “swapped” Ariza and Artest seems to hold weight…but it isn’t the whole story.

Houston needed a young gun to act as an insurance policy for the crumbling legs of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. They got it. But for the Lakers, didn’t it make more sense to retain Ariza as Kobe’s true wingman instead of Odom? The nod in Odom’s favor is his length. At 6-foot-10, he provides a huge defensive presence alongside Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. But you can’t expect Artest and Odom to play alongside each other efficiently. In Artest and Odom alone, the club is investing over $12 million. That’s a lot for two guys that essentially play the same position and provide vastly different strengths to your club.

But the truth is that Ariza was gone a long time ago. He wanted to escape the shadow of Kobe Bryant and become the main man somewhere else. I get that. For Odom, I think the attention he was getting as the “most coveted remaining free-agent” helped stroke his ego a little bit. While I would’ve preferred a move of Odom to Miami to join Dwyane Wade, I understand where Odom is coming from. He has the chance to star on a championship caliber team while living in one of the flashiest cities in the country. But for a guy who claimed that this whole waiting game was about a long-term deal, does three years sound long-term enough to you?

When this current deal is up, Odom will be 31, hoping that the Lakers will renew his contract for a fourth-year. At that point it’s anybody’s guess as to how much value he will have as a player. Miami missed the boat here. They could’ve raised the stakes of their offer to Odom to retain the services of Wade. Miami’s loss, however, is the booming gain of the L.A. Lakers betting faithful.