Although he's still technically signed to the team, Lamar Odomwon't be playing for the Dallas Mavericks for the rest of the season. Why? Well, when the news about Odom's departure from the team first came out on Sunday night, no one really knew. But now, Mark Cuban has helped shed some light on it. Apparently, he got into a heated halftime confrontation with Odom during the Mavericks game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday and decided that he'd had enough of Odom's lackadaisical play this season.
"Yeah," Cuban told ESPN Dallas earlier tonight when asked if that confrontation helped end Odom's tenure in Dallas. "Just his response to it. Everybody goes through ups and downs. Every player does. We tried to put him in a position to succeed. You guys saw it, saw what we did. It didn't work. And I just asked him, does he want to go for it or not? Is he in or is he out? I think he thought we were playing poker. I just didn't get a commitment. And that was the end."
But, Cuban didn't stop there. He also threw one final parting shot at Odom while addressing the situation. "We hope it's addition by subtraction," he said. "Just put him in the Tariq Abdul-Wahad category and move on."
Abdul-Wahad for those who forgot (we don't blame you!) was a player the Mavs traded for back in 2002. He played in just 18 games for Dallas before he was sidelined permanently. But he remained on the Mavs payroll for five seasons.
Damn. Sounds like there's no love lost between Cubes and Odom. Guess that'll make it a lot easier for the reigning Sixth Man of the Year to take Metta World Peace up on his offer to make Odom a Lakers ball boy, huh?
[via ESPN Dallas]
Follow @Complex_Sports for more news and commentary.
