The Dallas Mavericks acquired Lamar Odom from the Los Angeles Lakers, which will have ripple effects throughout the NBA as teams try to finalize rosters in this chaotic period following the NBA lockout. Above you see a photo of Odom battling Dirk Nowitzski last year in the NBA playoffs. Instead of working to get revenge for the Lakers, Odom will now be a crucial part of the Dallas effort to return to the NBA finals.

This trade signals the end of the bizarre saga surrounding the Chris Paul trade that was rejected by David Stern. That controversial decision has rocked the NBA, and now we’ll be hearing about it over and over again as New Orleans tries to unload Paul to another team. The Lakers decided to back out of the talks rather than submit a new trade from Chris Paul to the league, and in dealing Odom put an abrupt end to that scenario. Meanwhile, the Lakers now seem to be focusing their attention on acquiring Dwight Howard in a deal that would involve Andrew Bynum.

As for the Mavericks, this trade for Odom became possible when they decided to work a deal with the New York Knicks when it became clear they would be losing center Tyson Chandler to the Knicks. That gave the Mavs an $11 million trade exception which they then used to acquire Odom. Odom made it clear he didn’t want to leave LA, but the powers that be clearly decided to go in another direction.

Dallas has more moves to make as it reworks in roster in the wake of losing Chandler. Chandler was a very important piece of their championship puzzle, but he’s the kind of player that can be replaced. Dallas is now one of the teams that might get a shot at landing Dwight Howard as the Orlando Magic have permitted them along with the Lakers and the New Jersey Nets. There’s also buzz out there that Vince Carter will land in Dallas as well. Carter can still score, but he’s not the kind of player one thinks of to help a championship team. Maybe he’ll be better in a reduced role.

The Dwight Howard sweepstakes will be the next big story that will have ripple effects around the league. We’ll see how serious Dallas is in that contest.

It’s nice to have a franchise point guard, isn’t it?

During Monday night’s Suns/Nets game, there was an incident when Steve Nash went to save a ball that was going out of bounds. As he attempted to make the save, a fan sitting courtside (wearing sunglasses, no less) reached out and hit the ball away. Here’s a snapshot of the play.

After the refs discussed the play, the ball was awarded to Suns, even though Corey Hart was seen celebrating his shady move. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Way to hurt your team, buddy.

Holy surprise blockbuster, Batman! The Nets just acquired Deron Williams.

Al Iannazzone of NorthJersey.com broke the story:

The Nets have acquired All-Star point guard Deron Williams in an out-of-the-blue blockbuster. In the deal, the Nets will send Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and two No. 1 picks to the Utah Jazz. Williams is averaging 21.3 points and is third in the league in assists, dishing 9.7 per game.

The deal has been agreed upon. It’s pending league approval and everyone passing their physicals.

Nets fans should be dancing in the streets. The team missed out on Carmelo Anthony, but I believe that Williams is actually a better acquisition for the franchise, assuming he doesn’t bolt after the 2011-12 season.

This is a curious move for the Jazz, who are giving up a two-time All-NBA 2nd Teamer, and a player who has been jockeying with Chris Paul for best point guard in the league honors for the last couple of seasons. He’s a franchise player, and the Nets just wrestled him away for Devin Harris, a raw prospect, and two first round draft picks. Favors is a nice acquisition, but the Jazz are already set at power forward with Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson. I guess the idea is that Harris isn’t too much of a downgrade from Williams — only he is — while Favors can develop in a supporting role behind Millsap and Jefferson, and eventually turn into a star. For this to work out for the Jazz, Favors needs to develop into an All-Star and Utah has to strike gold with at least one of those draft picks.

Williams clearly burned some bridges this season with his role in the Jerry Sloan resignation along with the rumors that he wanted to join the Knicks in 2012. The Nets are in a good position to add another top tier free agent that summer if they stay the course financially, even with a new collective bargaining agreement. So they have a decent shot at keeping him around for the long-term, especially with their pending move to Brooklyn.

What they don’t need are any more contracts like the one they gave Travis Outlaw last summer that averages $7 million a season. That deal really made me question the Nets’ decision-making, but this trade for Williams more than made up for it. Other than Outlaw, the Nets don’t have any contracts that extend past the 2012-13 season, so there’s an opportunity to quickly remake this roster and turn it into a winner.

After missing out on LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in the last eight months, it sure looked like the Nets would always be the bridesmaid and never the bride, but today they are the bride, and in a big way.

This series is sponsored by Miller High Life – The Official Beer Of You. Find out how you can get sponsored by Miller High Life.

In case you haven’t heard, Carmelo Anthony was traded to the Knicks last night. If you haven’t heard, count yourself lucky (and completely oblivious), because all of this “Melodrama” got old a full month ago. A quick search at Twitter shows just how sick everyone was of the speculation.

You see, Carmelo didn’t ask to be traded. Or maybe he did, we don’t really know. He wouldn’t admit to the press that he asked for a trade, instead putting the onus on the Nuggets for wanting to trade him away. After what happened to LeBron’s image last summer, he didn’t want to be painted as the bad guy, but his act has worn thin. Everyone knows he wants to play for the Knicks. He wants to play in New York so badly that he doesn’t care that his new team had to give up the farm to get him. He just wants to be a Knick. Oh, and he wants a three-year, $65 million extension too. Let’s not forget about that.

There was another team pursuing him — the New Jersey Nets. But New Jersey (who will soon move to Carmelo’s hometown of Brooklyn) wasn’t good enough for this guy. The Nuggets and Nets worked out a trade, but the only thing holding up the deal was Carmelo’s unwillingness to sign the aforementioned extension. Who can blame the Nets? Why would they trade for him if he’s just going to leave after the season?

All of this drama would be enough to keep High Life from sponsoring Carmelo. But he recently took his hat off to himself — seriously — for playing through all this speculation. Here’s the mind-bending quote from FanHouse:

“I think it takes a strong-willed person, a strong-minded person, to deal with the stuff that I deal with and still go out there and go to work every day and perform on a nightly basis,” the Denver forward said about trade rumors that have swirled all season as the Feb. 24 trade deadline approaches. “I take my hat off to myself for dealing with all this stuff that’s going on and still be able to go out there and play at the high level that I can play at. I really don’t think an average person can walk in my shoes. I don’t think that.”

Somehow, in Carmelo’s World, he was the victim of circumstance. Not his team of eight years, the Denver Nuggets, who had no leverage and were forced into making a suspect deal because he was only willing to play for the Knicks.

Fortunately for the Common Man living the High Life, this NBA nightmare is now over. We can all go back to our lives and not be inundated with Carmelo rumors on SportsCenter.

Because it’s painful to watch a guy who refuses to live the High Life.