Mark Cuban vs. Lamar Odom: Dallas Mavericks Owner Says He Didn't Get His "Money's Worth"

Team owner says Khloé Kardashian Odom's husband is "a very talented basketball player. He just went through some issues this year…We weren't able to [work through them]"

By Rebecca Macatee Apr 11, 2012 8:24 PMTags
Mark Cuban, Lamar OdomWireImage, SIPA

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban isn't holding back about Lamar Odom's departure from the team.

On Monday Khloé Kardashian Odom's husband told ESPN he was "sorry that things didn't work out better for both of us," and for the most part Cuban agrees.

"We tried. It didn't work. We move on," Cuban said matter-of-factly at a recent press conference, excerpted by ESPN Radio.

But he still thinks the Mavericks came out on top.

"Yeah, I think the winners are us," he said. "He didn't want to play. He decided to go elsewhere...Now we regroup and go forward. Now you just take the circumstances and make the best of it.

"Every player goes through ups and downs," Cuban added. "We try and put them in a position to succeed. You saw what we did—it didn't work. And you know, I just asked him, Does he want to go forward or not, is he in or out? I think he thought we were playing poker."

And while Cuban called Odom "a very talented basketball player," he explained that the former L.A. Laker "just went through some issues this year and we thought we could work through them with him and we weren't able to."

When it came down to it, the Mavs boss said Lamar's "demeanor" indicated that the two of them needed to chat. "You can kind of tell sometimes when a guy's not focused and ready to play," he said. "If you're not positive energy, you're negative energy.

"Did I get my money's worth [out of Lamar]? No," he mused. "I don't know if the word's cheated, but did I get my money's worth? No."

All's fair in love and basketball.