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.

News like this makes you wonder whether Dallas has a chance.

A torn tendon in superstar Dirk Nowitzki’s left middle finger made the Dallas Mavericks’ Game 1 loss to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals on Tuesday night a little more painful.

Nowitzki suffered the injury when he was called for a foul after stripping Miami’s Chris Bosh with 3:44 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“I thought I stripped him clean, then I kind of looked down and I couldn’t straighten my finger out anymore,” said Nowitzki, who had 27 points on 7-of-18 shooting as the Mavs fell behind in a series for the first time this postseason. “So I tore a tendon in there. I guess it will be all right. I have to wear a splint probably the rest of the playoffs.”

Nowitzki, who is averaging 28.3 points per game in the playoffs, said X-rays on the finger were negative.

He downplayed concern about the injury, pointing out that it’s on his non-shooting hand.

The Mavs have to find a way to win game 2 in Miami. Hitting their threes would help . . . .

Want to read Part 1 first? Click here.

Mavs acquire Tyson Chandler, re-sign Brendan Haywood (6/$55 M).
Dallas missed out on Marcin Gortat last summer and in Chandler/Haywood they have a pretty good two-headed defensive center. If they split time and produce at 09-10 levels, the Mavs will get 14-14 and 2.7 blocks per game. But that production does come at a price. Chandler is in the last year of his deal ($12.6 M) and Haywood’s deal is fairly outrageous for a 30-year-old. The Mavs will need both players to produce if they hope to get past the Lakers’ talented bigs.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas is reportedly signing with the Heat. (2/vet’s min)
It’s not clear how much ‘Big Z’ has left in the tank, but at the veteran’s minimum, it doesn’t have to be much. The Heat just need Ilgauskas to play 15-20 minutes, protect the glass and hit his patented set shot. Veterans appear to be lining up to play with the Super Friends.

Kyle Lowry signs with the Cavs. (4/$24 M)
Byron Scott said he wants the Cavs to push the ball more and Lowry is a talented point guard who hasn’t had a chance to start, but has been productive in major roles for Houston and Memphis in his young career. Whether or not he starts for the Cavs remains to be seen. Mo Williams is still there and was an All-Star just two seasons ago. Also, Lowry is restricted and the Rockets have a week to match the Cavs’ offer. Update: It looks like the Rockets are going to match the offer. Daryl Morey always seems to get something for his assets, so maybe the two teams will make a trade.

Steve Blake signs with the Lakers. (4/$16 M)
Blake should be a nice fit in the Lakers’ triangle offense. He lacks the speed to beat guys off the dribble, but he’s a good passer (4.8 apg) and a solid spot up shooter (39% 3PT), two requirements to play alongside Kobe in L.A. With Jordan Farmar on the way out, Blake and Derek Fisher will likely split time at the point.

Tony Allen signs with the Grizzlies. (3/$10 M)
Jeff Van Gundy called Allen the best perimeter defender in the league, and the C’s curiously let him sign elsewhere for around $3 million a season. He is a very good defender. I watched him cover LeBron James, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant in consecutive playoff series and he didn’t give up very many easy shots. Why Boston would let him go is beyond me.

They tried to dump him last season, but by willing to take on some salary, the Hornets are going to turn Tyson Chandler into Emeka Okafor.

That represents a striking departure from the Hornets’ recent cost-conscious efforts to move Chander.

The Hornets initially dealt Chandler to Oklahoma City days before the league’s annual trading deadline in February for the then-expiring contracts of Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith, only for the Thunder to rescind the trade 24 hours later because of concerns about Chandler’s long-standing toe problems.

The widespread belief around the league at the time and then during New Orleans’ subsequent discussions with Phoenix about swapping Chandler for the expiring contract of Ben Wallace — which Phoenix has since bought out — held that New Orleans was only interested in shedding Chandler’s contract in exchange for an expiring deal to create payroll relief.

Swapping Chandler (due to earn $11.7 next season) for Okafor ($10.6 million) will save the Hornets just over $1 million next season and cost them an extra $40-plus million over the final three years of Okafor’s deal if the 26-year-old exercises his $14.5 million option for the 2013-14 season. Chandler has just one year left on his contract after this season at $12.6 million.

This deal hasn’t been formally announced, but if it goes through, the Hornets look to be getting the better end of the trade. Okafor is no Pau Gasol, but he provides a little more offensive punch than Chandler. He has averaged a double-double for five straight seasons, and has improved his field goal accuracy from 45% in his rookie season to 56% last year.

Chandler’s play was lacking last season, mostly because a foot injury limited his explosiveness. After he failing the Thunder’s physical, one wonders if he’ll ever be the same again. The Bobcats are probably doing this to get out from underneath Okafor’s contract, which runs another five years at the tune of $62 million. While that’s a somewhat reasonable price for a good center, Okafor doesn’t have the offensive skills to justify that contract. He’ll bring some defense and toughness, however, which should help the Hornets stay competitive.

With a declining Chandler and Peja Stojakovic’s out-of-control contract, New Orleans looked to be in a tough spot, but this just goes to show that if you’re willing to spend in this economy, you can acquire some talent. If Okafor works out and the Hornets gel, they’ll be back in the thick of things in the West.

Memphis GM Gerald Wallace took a lot of heat for trading Pau Gasol to the Lakers. But if we’ve learned anything in the past few days, it’s that Wallace was simply a man ahead of his time.

On Tuesday, we learned that the Bucks agreed to trade Richard Jefferson to the Spurs for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Amir Johnson. (Fabricio Oberto was part of the original deal, but San Antonio sent him to Detroit for Johnson, who was then sent to Milwaukee.)

Regular readers know I’m a Bucks fan, and I spent the last couple of days grumbling on the Sports Bubbler message boards about how we didn’t get anything in return for Jefferson, who is still a pretty good player. When Wallace traded away Gasol, at least he got Javaris Crittenton (who was considered a prospect with upside at the time) and Pau’s brother, Marc, who turned out to be a productive center for the Grizzlies.

Then I wake up today to see that the Cavs and Suns have agreed to go through with that long-rumored trade that will send Shaq to Cleveland for salary cap relief. Who do the Suns get in return? A retiree (Ben Wallace), a bench player with a partially guaranteed contract (Sasha Pavlovic), some cash and a second round pick.

This is the going rate for a Third Team All-NBA center these days.

We knew that this summer had the potential to be a rough one for free agents, but it’s a little surprising to see that good players like O’Neal and Jefferson could be had for virtually nothing. Bucks owner Herb Kohl and Suns owner Robert Sarver realize that their clubs aren’t legitimate contenders, so they don’t see the point in paying the luxury tax just for the privilege of being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. What kind of an effect these moves have on season ticket purchases remains to be seen.

The bottom line is that if a team is willing to spend, there has never been a better time to acquire talent. You’re not going to get someone like Caron Butler, who plays for a (pretend) contender and has a reasonable contract, but you can get Jefferson, who is overpaid and is on a mediocre team that is up against the luxury tax. And the older the player, the more likely he’s available. Teams aren’t going to give up good players that are in their early- or mid-twenties because the plan is to rebuild before they’re over the hill.

So who might be on the move for a bag of peanuts and some salary cap flexibility? How about Tracy McGrady, Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby, Vince Carter, Tyson Chandler, Amare Stoudemire, Jermaine O’Neal, Michael Redd, Ray Allen or Rip Hamilton?

Truth be told, a team like the Suns isn’t going to give the youngish Stoudemire away for cap flexibility alone. But as the price of a star goes down, the price of superstar goes down as well.

It promises to be an interesting summer.

It was a disappointing season for Chris Paul and Co. as they were unceremoniously eliminated from the playoffs last night in Denver. After last season’s near-miss against the Spurs in the Western Conference semis, along with the addition of do-it-all forward James Posey, many pundits (including myself) thought that they might be the team best positioned to threaten the Lakers’ chances of a return trip to the Finals. But it was not to be.

According to John Hollinger’s PER, Chris Paul had an even better statistical season than last year, when he was in serious contention to become the league’s MVP. David West played his usual 21/9 ball as well.

So what happened?

1. Tyson Chandler wasn’t himself. He battled injuries all year and was even traded to Oklahoma City (and subsequently untraded due to the Thunder’s concerns about his foot). Here are his stats for the last three seasons:

’06-’07: 9.5 ppg, 12.4 rpg, 1.8 bpg, 62% FG%
’07-’08: 11.8 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 1.1 bpg, 62% FG%
’08-’09: 8.8 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 57% FG%

That may not seem like much of a fall off, but three points, three rebounds and a 5% decrease in field goal shooting certainly has an effect. It’s not Chandler’s fault that he had some nagging injuries, but that was part of the reason for the Hornets’ decline.

2. Peja Stojakovic went from average to bad. I’ve been railing on Peja’s game for the last few seasons, insisting that the trade that brought him over from Indiana was a bust and that his contract would ultimately put the franchise in a tough financial spot. Fast forward a couple of years and his PER dropped from a just-above-average 15.74 last season to a poor 12.54 this season. And it’s not like this guy is a lockdown defender whose value can’t be measured in statistics. He’s pretty bad defensively. He’s supposed to be a shooter that can space the court for Chris Paul’s drives, only he shot sub-40% from the field and sub-38% from long range.

Moreover, his salary runs another two seasons at the tune of $29.5 million, so he’s like an anchor hanging on the neck of the Hornets’ balance sheet. So much so that the Hornets were forced to (try to) trade one of the best defensive centers in the league in a straight up salary dump. What’s amazing is that Stojakovic played the third-most minutes (34.2) on the team, while promising second-year man, Julian Wright, is left to languish on the bench. Throw in Rasual Butler’s less-than-stellar PER (11.82), and you have a pair of very unproductive wings. (But least Butler can defend.) At some point, Byron Scott should have seen the writing on the wall and give Wright some of Peja’s minutes. Start Stojakovic and if he gets off to a hot start, great, if not, give Wright 20-25 minutes and see what he can do.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, Peja’s contract is unmovable at this point, so they’re just going to have to ride it out. Since they almost traded away Chandler, they don’t seem to be in a position to add any talent via the mid-level exception, so they are pretty much stuck with the roster they have. They have to hope that Chandler can get healthy (possible) and that Peja can rediscover his game (doubtful). Their best bet is to give Wright more minutes and hope that he can develop into a solid starter. That seems to be the only way that New Orleans can once again become a serious contender in the short term.

Tyson Chandler missed the New Orleans Hornets’ last 12 games before the All-Star break with a sprained left ankle. But that had nothing to do with why he failed his physical with the Oklahoma City Thunder and was thus sent back to the Hornets on Wednesday.

After examining Chandler’s left big toe, Dr. Carlan Yates, Oklahoma City’s team physician, determined that the risk of re-injury was too great to give Chandler a clean bill of health. He therefore advised the Thunder to rescind Tuesday’s trade that landed them Chandler for Joe Smith, Chris Wilcox and the rights to Devon Hardin.

“This is absolutely crazy,” Chandler said in a telephone conversation Wednesday night. “I’m super shocked. This is nuts.”

Chandler, 26, was baffled by Yates’ ruling in part because Yates performed surgery on Chandler’s big left toe in April of 2007 when the Hornets were playing in Oklahoma City. Chandler played 79 games the following season and while he’s missed 19 games this season, none have been because of his toe.

“He said he doesn’t know how long I’ll last,” Chandler said in reference to Yates. “He told me, ‘I have no doubt you can play on it. I’m just saying it could take a turn for the worse if you come down on somebody’s foot or hyperextend it or something.'”

Oklahoma City was looking at Chandler as a long-term solution in the middle, but concerns over the toe made it impossible to count on him in that capacity. They didn’t want to take the risk, and that’s their right. They can now use that cap space on another center this summer or next.

For the Hornets, it makes for a somewhat awkward reunion. David West and Chris Paul were none too pleased about the decision to trade Chandler away, so they were happy to hear the news. For his part, this is what the Hornets’ GM had to say.

“We welcome Tyson back with open arms,” Hornets general manager Jeff Bower said. “We went into this trade to garner more frontcourt depth to add to our team as we continue our push towards the playoffs. We expect Tyson and the rest of our big guys to step up to the challenge.”

All right, Bower is flat out lying here. They tried to make this trade for salary cap relief, not to “garner more frontcourt depth.” West said it best…

“This move has nothing to do with basketball. It was strictly a business decision. Using some common sense, that’s what it came down to. I was hoping that all of it was a rumor. We have now become one of the smaller teams, and we really have put ourselves back in the situation we were in two years ago when we had a big hole in the middle.”

If Chandler is able to return and get back to the type of play we’re used to, the Hornets will once again be a major factor in the Western Conference playoffs. His PER was a stellar 17+ the last two seasons but it is sitting at 14.16 right now, and injuries are to blame.