NBA (Sources): Lamar Odom & Mark Cuban Got Into Heated Argument During Halftime Saturday Night

Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Oh mannnn, everyone is talking about Lamar Odom today.  Earlier we had Metta World Peace making jokes about Lam Lam – saying he could return as a ball boy, then there was a rumor that Lamar and Dirk got into a scuffle and now we have this….

At halftime of his final game with the Dallas Mavericks Saturday night, Lamar Odom had an angry exchange with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban in the visitors’ locker room in Memphis, according to sources familiar with the discussion.

Sources told ESPNDallas.com that the heated words were “the culmination” of an exasperating weekend. That convinced team officials to initiate discussions on Easter that led to the parties agreeing split for the rest of the season.

According to sources, the crux of the heated halftime confrontation was Cuban asking Odom if he was “in or out.” Sources said Odom, who had played only four minutes in the first half, reacted angrily to the question and did not take his seat on the bench until after the third quarter began.

This was not the first time that Cuban had confronted Odom during a game. During a March 6 win over the New York Knicks, Cuban shouted at Odom from the owner’s seat near the Mavs bench after the forward’s failure to hustle back on defense resulted in an uncontested layup for New York’s Landry Jones. Cuban and Odom both downplayed that incident, with Cuban pointing out that he’s a passionate fan who frequently yells at players.

ESPN.com reported Monday that the Mavericks and Odom have agreed for the 32-year-old to leave the team immediately without being released outright, thereby leaving open the possibility the Mavericks still could trade him in June after the playoffs.

Cuban declined to comment. He had been among Odom’s staunchest supporters all season, spending two days meeting with Odom and agent Jeff Schwartz while the Mavs were on the road in the midst of a nine-game, 12-day stretch at the end of the veteran’s 10-day midseason personal leave.

After the loss Saturday, coach Rick Carlisle declined to answer a question about Odom, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year who averaged career lows in points (6.6), rebounds (4.2), assists (1.7), shooting percentage (35.2) and minutes (20.5) this season after being traded from the Los Angeles Lakers to the defending NBA champions in a December salary-dump deal.

On Monday, Carlisle responded to questions about Odom simply by saying, “It’s just time to turn the page.”

Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson expressed sympathy for personal issues Odom has dealt with all season, but said it was in the best interest of all parties for the 13-year veteran forward to not be part of the team the rest of the season. Nelson compared counting on Odom while the Mavs fight for a playoff berth to “going to war with wet gunpowder.”

“We’re in our playoff time right here,” Nelson said. “We need to win games. We got to be able to look down that bench and count on folks to be consistent. Unfortunately with him in his state right now, he’s just not capable of doing that.”

The Mavs still owe Odom the remainder of his $8.9 million salary this season. The Mavericks intend to simply list him as inactive for the rest of the season. Any team that has Odom on its roster as of June 29 must buy him out by that date for $2.4 million or otherwise accept responsibility for the full $8.2 million that Odom is scheduled to earn in 2012-13.

“The Mavericks and I have mutually agreed that it’s in the best interest of both parties for me to step away from the team,” Odom said Monday in a statement to ESPN.com.

“I’m sorry that things didn’t work out better for both of us, but I wish the Mavs’ organization, my teammates and Dallas fans nothing but continued success in the defense of their championship.”

WRITTEN BY Tim MacMahon and Marc Stein | ESPN.com & FULL STORY HERE