Yes, at least according to a Yahoo! Sports source.

Odom has not reached a final decision, the sources said, but there is growing belief he will ultimately return to the Heat unless the Lakers improve their current offer.

“It’s close, but it’s not done,” said one source.

Lakers officials and Odom’s representatives resumed talking after a weeklong standoff that began when Jerry Buss, the team’s owner, withdrew a four-year, $36 million offer that guaranteed $30 million. Sources close to Odom said that while the two sides have since talked, Buss is now offering less than the Lakers’ previous proposal.

I still don’t know how the Heat’s offer of five years and $34 million is better than the Lakers’ offer of four years and $36 million (which works out to around $32 million after state taxes). Surely, Odom would be able to make more than $2 million in the year after the Laker deal expired. But hey, I’m not an accountant.

Or maybe he’s ticked off that Buss is offering less and wants to go to an organization that has demonstrated that it really wants him. If Miami can get Odom at the mid-level, it will be a coup, though it will create something of a logjam at power forward since that’s the position the Heat want Michael Beasley to play.

If the Lakers let Odom slip away, they will be going backwards this summer. The Ron Artest signing is nice, but Artest does not offset the loss of Odom and Trevor Ariza. With the Spurs, Blazers and Mavericks nipping at their heels, things could get very interesting in the West.

Note: John Ireland of 710 Los Angeles has reported that the fourth year of the Laker deal is only partially guaranteed (for $3 million), so the best deal that the Lakers offered was for $27 million over three years plus a guaranteed $3 million in the fourth year. So, after state taxes, that’s worth about $27 million over three years. It now makes sense that Odom would consider taking the five-year deal from the Heat since that deal offers as much as $7 million more in guaranteed money, maybe more if the Lakers’ latest offer has been reduced.

While some are reporting that Lamar Odom has already come to terms with the Lakers, the Los Angeles Times are simply reporting that he and the Lakers are talking again.

The discussions were labeled productive, but there was nothing to report “at the moment,” according to a source familiar with negotiations who was not authorized to comment publicly.

It didn’t look great last week for Odom’s return to the Lakers after the franchise yanked its offers of three years and $30 million or four years and $36 million, with the fourth year only partially guaranteed.

But the sides began communicating in a more positive light Wednesday. Financial details were not immediately available, though the Lakers were not expected to have improved their initial offers. If anything, the offers might have dropped slightly.

Odom doesn’t have a lot of leverage. The Lakers are offering him the best deal he can get, and the other teams with cap space don’t seem too interested in his services. He’d be willing to play for Miami, but the best that they can offer is the mid-level exception, and it simply doesn’t compare to what the Lakers are wiling to give him (even after state taxes are taken into account).

With the Lakers back at the bargaining table, all signs point to Odom’s eventual return.

I don’t know how dependable this is, but Black Sports Online apparently has sources “close to Lamar Odom” that say he’s going to re-sign.

Sources close to Lamar Odom have told BSO that Odom will resign with the Lakers.

Odom will sign a 4 year 40 million dollar contract to stay with the champs.

The change of heart came after Lamar reached out to Dr. Jerry Buss. The two of them spoke yesterday where they were able to reach an agreement.

*UPDATE*

Once again sources close to Lamar Odom are insisting a deal is done and is just waiting for Dr. Buss to sign off on it.

The big question is…is WhiteSportsOnline.com taken?

I’m here all week. Try the veal.

The Lakers need to re-sign Odom in order to avoid taking a step back this summer. The Ron Artest acquisition should be great, but adding Artest would not offset losing both Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom. With the Odom signing, the Lakers would be the clear favorite to repeat next season. Without him, I’m not so sure…

After Hedo Turkoglu decided to play for the Raptors and after the Jazz made it clear that they’d match the Blazers’ offer sheet to Paul Millsap, we all wondered what Portland’s Plan C would be. Apparently, it’s Andre Miller.

A deal is not imminent, but there has been progress made toward resolving Miller’s status, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

The Blazers have been looking to upgrade at point guard but didn’t get very far in talks with Dallas guard Jason Kidd (who re-signed with the Mavericks) or Phoenix’s Steve Nash (who agreed to a two-year, $22 million extension with the Suns on Monday). Portland was not looking hard at Miller because the Blazers thought they needed to add someone to the roster with more perimeter shooting skills than the 33-year-old. But with $7.7 million in cap room and a dwindling number of free agents available, Miller may be Portland’s last best chance to bring in a veteran player that can help its young core.

For now, according to a source, the Blazers do not have any interest in Lakers free agent forward Lamar Odom, whose negotiations with Los Angeles on a new contract have stalled.

I’ve been hearing all summer how Miller is a poor fit for the Blazers given their overall pace (29th in the league) and desire to surround Brandon Roy with as many shooters as possible. (Miller is a career 21% three-point shooter.) So the Blazers’ sudden interest is surprising.

While Odom doesn’t represent the kind of toughness the Blazers want to add to their front line, Portland is uniquely positioned to wrest him away from Los Angeles, which would serve a big blow to the Lakers’ chances of winning another title.

Portland could work with Miami to help the Heat facilitate a trade for Carlos Boozer. Udonis Haslem is a good, hard-nosed player who can shoot the ball, and while he’s not truly starter-caliber, he’d be a nice guy to have on the bench.

Or they could go after Boozer themselves, if they can get the Jazz to answer their calls after trying to steal Millsap away earlier this month.

If the Blazers aren’t worried about having a point guard that can shoot, they should go after Ramon Sessions, who is just as productive as Miller, but 10 years his junior and quite a bit cheaper.

Carlos Boozer wants to play in Miami.

The two-time NBA All-Star said Monday that he and the Jazz have “mutually agreed” to a trade, and it would be “a beautiful thing” if he wound up reunited with Olympic teammate Dwyane Wade on the Heat.

“We first came here for tax reasons and fell in love with it,” Boozer said, taking a break from his campers. “We love the palm trees, the laid-back attitude, the sun, quality of life. It’s like paradise here, and I would love to be part of the Heat. They’re a very good team, and I’m real close to some of the guys. Dwyane and I started to get close at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and I’d love to play on his team. Plus, I already live here. I’m just waiting to see what happens.”

The Heat have a few trade chips, but when considering Boozer, who is in the final year of his contract, the Jazz aren’t going to want to take only expiring salaries in a trade. They might as well keep him for the year and hope they can make some noise in the playoffs.

Udonis Haslem is a good player, but he’s in the final year of his deal. Would Miami be willing to part with Michael Beasley? Would Jerry Sloan even want him? Miami may need to get a third team involved to facilitate this deal.

Knicks, Clippers interested in Ramon Sessions.

Sessions, the Milwaukee Bucks talented young point guard who is a restricted free agent, is drawing intense interest from the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers.

Both teams are considering offering Sessions their mid-level exception, which starts at $5.854 million in the first season. The annual salary then can increase each year thereafter by a maximum of eight percent — or $468,000.

It is believed James “Chubby’’ Wells, Sessions’ agent, is looking for a five-year deal that would be worth approximately $34.5 million. Both the Knicks and Clippers apparently are amenable to that request.

Meanwhile, the NY Post reports that the Knicks are prepared to offer Sessions a long-term deal worth $26 million.

The Knicks became reluctant to get serious about Sessions earlier this month. They felt the Bucks would match a mid-level offer and didn’t want to be tied up waiting on Milwaukee.

Now they think the Bucks will pass because of their comfort level with first-round draft pick Brandon Jennings, who is the centerpiece of the team’s season-ticket marketing campaign on their Web site.

After giving away Richard Jefferson and letting Charlie Villanueva walk with no compensation, are the Bucks prepared to let Sessions walk without getting anything in return? He is one of the best young point guards in the league, but with Brandon Jennings’ solid performance in summer league and the team’s decision to use Jennings as the centerpiece of their marketing campaign, the Knicks and Clippers smell blood. Whoever gets Sessions is going to get a guy who has a great chance to be a top 10 point guard for the next seven or eight years.

Andre Miller isn’t getting much love in free agency.

“We are still in the sign-and-trade mode,” Stefanski said about his talk with Andy Miller, with whom he has spoken frequently since NBA free agency began.

According to an NBA source, the Sixers have not been exactly bombarded with offers for a sign-and-trade agreement involving Miller. The 33-year-old Miller, who was hoping to land a three-year contract in the $30 million range, was offered one year for about $6 million by the Sixers.

Miller wants $30 million over three seasons, but I don’t think he’s going to get it. If he lowered his price tag to the mid-level, he might be able to get a three- or four-year deal, but even that is a long deal for a 33-year-old. He played very well last season, so he can be of help, but he’s at his best in an up-tempo offense and there aren’t a lot of suitors out there. Save for the Knicks and Pacers (who are rebuilding), he teams in the top 10 of pace (possessions per game) are all set at point guard.

Bulls will be careful in 2010, according to CEO Jerry Reinsdorf.

Q: The Bulls will have some $25 million in salary-cap room projected to spend on the star-studded 2010 free-agent class. After spending $60 million on free agent Ben Wallace with little to show for it, are you leery of courting another big-money player?

A: Yes. But the only way you can avoid making a mistake is not to make a decision. Even Jerry West has made mistakes, and he’s probably the best in the business. Even [Red] Auerbach made mistakes. Was Ben Wallace a mistake? Probably. Because what we didn’t think about is Ben needs to play alongside somebody who can score a lot of points. But I don’t think it’s about Ben Wallace that makes us be careful. It’s the thought that when you make a mistake, you own that mistake. So we’ve got to be careful.

Really? Ben Wallace needs to play alongside a guy who can score? It took a contract worth $60 million for you to realize that, Jerry?

$60 million was waaaaaay too much to pay for a player with Wallace’s offensive limitations. Even if a guy is the best defensive center in the league, it doesn’t make him worth $15 million per year.

Reinsdorf goes on to say that Pau Gasol is the Lakers’ “third-best player,” so I guess he’d put Lamar Odom (or Ron Artest?) ahead of the Spaniard. Sigh.

Things have been pretty quiet this summer on the David Lee and Nate Robinson front. But now that the unrestricted free agent market has all but dried up, teams are setting their sights on the restricted free agents that are still available.

Knicks team president Donnie Walsh predicted negotiations with David Lee will come to a head early next week, and indications were Lee will either sign an offer sheet with the Trail Blazers or settle for the Knicks’ five-year offer, which agent Mark Bartelstein still believes is below Lee’s market value.

he Blazers got back $10 million in cap room when the Jazz matched their four-year, $32 million offer to forward Paul Millsap. Bartelstein is trying to get the Blazers to offer Lee a five-year, $50 million contract, but they have been reluctant, feeling that the Knicks will match.

With his eye on the 2010 salary cap, Walsh is seeking a deal averaging between $7 and $8 million.

Isn’t Millsap’s value higher than Lee’s? Millsap is just as good of a rebounder and can score with his back to the basket. Lee is an energy guy and his numbers are a little inflated since the Knicks play at such a frenetic pace under Mike D’Antoni. Walsh has his value pegged (at $7-$8 million per season), but it is Bartelstein’s job to get as much money for Lee as he can.

I don’t think the Blazers are reluctant because they think the Knicks will match, I think they’re reluctant to give Lee $10 million per season.

Meanwhile, Olympiakos made a strong offer to Nate Robinson.

The Knicks will have trouble competing with Olympiakos’ offer to fellow restricted free agent Nate Robinson. A source said the Greek team’s offer is equivalent to $10 million a year, factoring in endorsements and merchandising.

Robinson can play next season for $2.9 million and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. If he goes to Greece, the Knicks will still hold his rights next summer. Josh Childress will play for Olympiakos for another season after testing the waters this summer.

The NBA needs to get rid of restricted free agency altogether. If a team can’t work out an extension by the summer before the final year of the player’s contract then that player should become an unrestricted free agent the following summer.

7/19 Update: The Hoop is reporting that Olympiakos’s offer to Robinson is for $9 million over two years.

Finally, the Knicks have interest in Ramon Sessions, according to Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal-Times. (Actually, he posted this on Twitter.)

I hear Knicks covet Ramon Sessions, expected 2 call Bucks soon about sign and trade. Otherwise prepared 2 use mid-level. Yes, Knicks love Sessions

I’ve been waiting for the market for Sessions to heat up. I think he’s worth the mid-level, so the Bucks better figure out a way to keep him or get something in return.

I am told the purpose of the call was to rebuild any bridges that Odom’s agent, Jeff Schwartz may have burned by not responding to the Lakers offer of 3-years $30 million, and 4-years for $36 million.

If the Lakers do have (or had) these offers on the table, I don’t know why Odom hasn’t already re-signed. The most the Heat (or any team without cap space) can offer is a five-year deal worth around $34 million. So it makes sense that he’d be calling up Buss trying to convince him to make these offers available again. The market for Odom is not that strong, so he simply doesn’t have the leverage to demand a contract in the $11 million-plus range.

What’s not clear is if Buss is wiling to let bygones be bygones and sign Odom. He’s a character, for sure, but in the end I think GM Mitch Kupchak will convince him to sign Odom to one of these deals.