Reports persist that Odom has been offered deals spanning three and four seasons in length from the Lakers, but that differs sharply from every bankable indication we’ve received.
The Lakers’ best offer to Odom, so far, tops out at $27 million over three seasons. The expectation among rival teams remains that the sides will eventually come to terms.
This makes more sense. I don’t know why Odom would turn down a four-year deal from the Lakers worth $36 million to consider a five-year deal worth $34 million from the Heat. If the Lakers are only offering three years, then the total value of the contract is about $24 million after state taxes, so Odom could elect to go with the security of the extra $10 million in the Miami deal.
This, coupled with the Lakers’ decision to pull their offer from the table, might convince Odom to head to Miami and play for the mid-level. Pat Riley also indicated that the Heat are trying to work out a sign-and-trade for Odom, though it’s not clear what players would have to be involved to get the Lakers to agree to take on the extra salary. Udonis Haslem? Michael Beasley?
The deal, according to sources, calls for the Mavericks to acquire Marion and Kris Humphries from Toronto and Greg Buckner from Memphis, with Marion to receive a five-year contract worth an estimated $39 million. Buckner has had two previous stints with the Mavericks but is likely to be released, sources said.
The Grizzlies will land Jerry Stackhouse from Dallas and a substantial cash payment to buy out Stackhouse’s contract. Only $2 million of Stackhouse’s $7.25 million salary next season is guaranteed, as long as he is waived by Aug. 10.
The Raptors will receive Devean George and Antoine Wright from the Mavericks, while also preserving their $5.9 million mid-level exception for the coming season by turning their acquisition of Turkoglu — who is getting a five-year deal worth an estimated $53 million — into a sign-and-trade as opposed to an outright signing. Assembling the trade this way could also enable Toronto to re-sign Carlos Delfino, after it appeared that the Raptors would have to renounce Delfino to help make room for the Turkoglu signing.
The Magic, meanwhile, were motivated to join in the trade because their participation, as opposed to merely letting Turkoglu walk, will create a valuable trade exception they can use in future deals worth around $7 million.
Mark Cuban is arguably the most polarizing owner in the league, but he isn’t afraid to try to make his team better. Whether it’s an ill-advised Jason Kidd-for-Devin Harris swap, the mid-level signing of Marcin Gortat or working out this sign-and-trade to land Marion, Cuban has always been willing to do what’s necessary to win.
With these moves, Dallas can start Marion at small forward next to Dirk Nowitzki and shift Josh Howard to shooting guard, with Sixth Man Award winner Jason Terry staying in a bench role. The Mavericks also believe that they will have a strong small-ball unit when they elect not to play Gortat or Erick Dampier, featuring Howard at small forward, Marion at power forward and Nowitzki at center.
$8 million per year for five years is a lot to pay for a 31-year-old, but Cuban knows that Nowitzki’s window is closing and the Mavericks’ time is now. Dallas now has a formidable starting lineup — Kidd, Howard, Marion, Nowitzki and Gortat — that has features four All-Stars, with Terry, J.J. Barea, Matt Carroll and Dampier coming off the bench. It will be interesting to see if the Mavs are able (or willing) to retain Brandon Bass, who is a free agent this summer.
Sources told ESPN.com that Kidd, 36, will receive a 3-year, fully-guaranteed contract worth in excess of $25 million.
Kidd elected to stay in Dallas in the face of a hard push from the New York Knicks, who last week offered Kidd the most they could ($19 million over three years).
Some say that Kidd flirted with the Knicks only to strengthen his bargaining position with the Mavericks, but I think Dallas knew that someone would make him a mid-level offer and that they’d have to come a little stronger. Kidd was still an elite point guard as recently as the 2006-07 season, but over the past two seasons his athleticism has degraded somewhat, and he now gets by on guile more than speed or quickness.
This seems like a fruitless endeavor for the Mavs. Locking up Kidd for another three years will help keep Dallas in the playoffs, but they are a far cry from being a serious contender in the West. Dirk Nowitzki can opt out next summer (but may not), Josh Howard is signed through 2011 and Jason Terry is signed through 2012. This core blew its chance for a title in the 2006 Finals when Dwyane Wade went on a rampage (with more than a little help from the refs), and then overreacted by trading budding star Devin Harris away for Kidd. If Harris were still on the roster, the Mavs’ prospects would be brighter.
Mark Cuban hoped to put his feud with Kenyon Martin (and Martin’s mom) behind him when he apologized on his blog for referring to Martin as a thug after Game 3 in Dallas. But Martin doesn’t think Cuban’s apology is good enough.
“He’s a coward,” Martin said about Cuban, according to HoopsHype.com. “He couldn’t face it. You all read the only apology that he’s made [on his blog].
“The world got to see it before the person who it was meant for got to see it. That tells you how that goes. I ain’t never known nobody apology to somebody through other people.”
For his part, Cuban called his blog apology a mistake, telling the Web site in an e-mail that he regretted not having contacted Martin’s mother in person and in a timely fashion.
“I still intend to apologize to Ms. Moore,” Cuban wrote of Lydia Moore, Martin’s mother. “I made a mistake and will keep my commitment.”
“I would also like to know if Kenyon is going to take responsibility for his actions rather than hiding behind ‘no comment,’ ” Cuban wrote. “Will he apologize to the wife of our staff member that he called a [expletive] fat pig’ immediately after Game 3? Will he apologize to fans that he threatened to, and I’m paraphrasing here, ‘[expletive] beat the [expletive] down’ during Game 4?
“Or to the fans he walked by after Game 4, [Martin] cursed and gave the finger to? Will he take responsibility for what he said and did? Is there some reason he has not?”
This isn’t a huge deal, but it probably isn’t going away until the two speak to each other. They both like to talk to the press, so reporters will keep asking them about the status of the feud, which is only going to add fuel to the fire.
After the hectic finish to Game 3, where many believe that the officials blew a call that might have saved the game for the Mavs, Mark Cuban got into an exchange with Kenyon Martin’s mother and referred to her son as a “thug.”
During the postgame chaos after Saturday’s Nuggets-Mavericks game, Dallas owner Mark Cuban had a brief but heated confrontation with Lydia Moore, the mother of Denver’s Kenyon Martin, who was seated near the tunnel that leads to the Mavs’ locker room.
Cuban said Sunday by e-mail that when he walked off the court, a fan was screaming about the Nuggets being “thugs,” so Cuban said to Martin’s mother: “That includes your son.”
According to Martin’s agent, Brian Dyke, Cuban spotted Moore amid numerous Nuggets fans and said, unprovoked, “Your son is a punk.” Regardless of what insult was stated, NBA spokesman Tim Frank said, “The situation on the floor postgame is being reviewed.”
Cuban was visibly angry after Game 3 because he believed the officials missed numerous key calls down the stretch, notably the noncall on Denver’s Carmelo Anthony, who avoided a potential foul and calmly hit the winning 3-pointer with one second left.
Cuban said by e-mail he knew Martin’s mother, because after a previous game that Denver won, she had approached him and made trash-talk-type comments.
The NBA released a statement that said that the officials missed an intentional foul in the waning seconds that led to Anthony’s game-winning shot, but when I first saw the play, I didn’t think there was enough contact to warrant an automatic whistle. That kind of contact happens on virtually every play in an NBA game. It was a judgment call, and the officials apparently made the decision to let Wright’s contact on Anthony go. Wright didn’t wrap him up or make it completely obvious that he was trying to take a foul, so there was room for error.
The other question I have is did the Mavs notify each official that their plan was to commit a foul on the inbounds pass? If the refs were aware of what the Mavs were trying to do, it would have been more likely that they would have made the call. Here’s the final play, in case you missed it:
As for Cuban, it’s not a big surprise that he got into a heated exchange with Martin’s mom, or any Nuggets fan for that matter. At heart, Cuban is first and foremost a fan of his team and fans don’t always behave in a professional or appropriate manner. Should he be fined? Yes, assuming there is a code of conduct for team owners.
