If he isn't careful, Lamar Odom is about to find out the same thing that Gary Payton, Shaquille O'Neal and Trevor Ariza found out the hard way.
You can't "leverage" Jerry Buss.
Odom and his agent, Jeff Schwartz, are looking around at the marketplace and figure that they are worth at least what Ben Gordon (five years, $55 million) and Hedo Turkoglu (five years, $53 million) are worth. They want at least five years, $50 million for Lamar. While that makes sense to most people, Jerry Buss isn't most people. And Buss is the only person who matters now.
Buss wants to keep Odom, and made him several offers to try and do so. According to Brad Turner of the LA Times, Buss most recently offered a deal for $9 million a season for four years at $36 million, or $10 million a season over three years for a total of $30 million.
But Odom and Schwartz didn't even respond--and now Buss has pulled all offers.
If you think Buss won't walk away, you're wrong. Remember, this is a guy who traded Shaq after making the Finals four out of five years and winning three times. Above all else, he's a gambler who knows numbers. He's reached his limit and is ready to walk away.
To a lot of Lakers' fans, that is infuriating. They think the team needs Odom to continue to win championships, and that Buss should simply meet his demands. But I've been around the team for years, and I can't state this strongly enough: when Buss makes up his mind, he almost never goes back (the re-hiring of Phil Jackson is the only time I can think of). As much as I like Lamar--and he's a great player and an even better guy--he has to realize that now is the time for him to take one of those deals.
If Odom really wants to play for the Lakers, he should take a page from A-Rod and call Buss directly. When Scott Boras wasn't getting anywhere with the Yankees a few years ago, Alex Rodriguez picked up the phone and told the team, "I want to play for you. Let's work out the numbers between us and let Scott handle the small details." That's the play for Odom now.
A lot of times in sports, no matter how much the team likes the player (and the Lakers love Odom and his game), it becomes a business decision. And Lamar Odom better hope that Jerry Buss hasn't already made up his mind.
