Lamar Odom cleaned out his locker Thursday and left the Lakers' training facility, perhaps for the last time as part of the franchise that has employed him the last five years.
Odom will be an unrestricted free agent July 1, one of two forwards the Lakers hope to re-sign to keep their frontcourt intact.
Trevor Ariza is younger and has plenty of potential, but Odom can play three positions and provide much-needed backup help whenever Andrew Bynum gets in foul trouble.
The Lakers hope to sign both Ariza and Odom, but owner Jerry Buss will first have to evaluate how much to offer Odom, a non-starter on a championship team.
Odom was on the Lakers' books for $14.1 million this season, though he was actually paid $11.4 million because he received some of the money in a trade kicker when the Lakers acquired him from Miami in July 2004.
The Lakers have already committed $74 million toward eight players on next season's payroll. Buss will pay up to $7 million in luxury taxes for this past season's payroll, but he would have to go much deeper into luxury-tax territory, perhaps $20 million on top of a $90-million payroll, to re-sign both Odom and Ariza. It would move the Lakers from a top-five payroll to the top payroll in the league.
Odom turns 30 in November. Will he be celebrating his birthday as a member of the Lakers?
"I thought I did my job this year -- come off the bench, do whatever it takes," Odom said as players continued to have exit meetings with Lakers Coach Phil Jackson and General Manager Mitch Kupchak. "I had to play well and I played well. We had to win and we won. Hopefully, everything will just work out and I can stay home."
Odom had a solid playoff run, averaging 12.3 points a game, third-best on the team, and 9.1 rebounds, second-best on the team. He was particularly impressive in the last two games of the Western Conference finals, helping the Lakers successfully emerge from a 2-2 deadlock with Denver by averaging 19.5 points and 11 rebounds in Games 5 and 6.
"I think he's done everything that was asked of him over the last five seasons, from playing small forward to point guard to power forward to coming off the bench," said Odom's agent, Jeff Schwartz. "And as much as he's made it clear he wants to remain a Laker, it's going to depend on their offer and what the market holds for him. The bottom line is, Lamar has shown he's a winner and that's valuable."
