Mo Williams exercised his $8.5 million player option on Friday, which cleared the way for a three-team trade to go through, sending Williams to the Jazz, Lamar Odom to the L.A. Clippers, and Utah will send the trade exception it received in the Mehmet Okur trade to the Mavericks..
With the move, Odom returns to the Clippers team that originally drafted him No. 4 overall in 1999. He started out strong for the Clips, averaging 16.4 points as a rookie and 16.6 points his second season, but left to join the Miami Heat in 2003-04. After one year in Miami, Odom joined the Lakers and played there till the 2010-11 season, winning the Sixth Man of the Year award. He sought and receiving a trade to Dallas this season and after a sub-par performance for the Mavs in 2011-12, Odom returns to his home base of L.A. He'll join a talented Clippers offensive front court that also includes Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
Dallas had faced a Friday deadline (that had been moved to Saturday) on a $2.4 million buyout of Odom's $8.2 million option for next season but with this move L.A. inherits his entire contract.
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