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The Laker offseason soap opera continues as the Riverside Press-Enterprise (a paper which is impressing LAist with its, well, enterprise) reports that the team has narrowed down its offers for Shaq and is considering a deal that would send the Big Aristotle to Miami for Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, and a first round draft pick. LAist can't help but think that it's probably not a great idea to reunite Odom with his southland drug dealers who helped him get suspended several times for violating the NBA's substance abuse policy. We also don't like the idea of paying Grant nearly $15 million a year through 2007, considering he's been a bust for most of his career. Lamar Odom may be a skilled player, and an Olympian, but if this is the best the Lakers can do then it's pretty disgraceful.
In the meantime, incoming Lakers coach Rudy Tomjanovich is trying to woo Derek Fisher back to LA, hoping to have better luck than he's had with Shaq so far.
"I just feel terrible for Rudy because I wanted to play for him," Shaq said in the Press-Enterprise. "But I ain't coming back there."
Hey, Shaq, you can still play for him here. We'll ask Jerry Buss to work on his apologies.
About the only good news for the Lakers is that Kobe Bryant will not be going to San Antonio, as the Spurs will use much of their cap space to re-sign Manu Ginobili. But at this rate the Lakers will be lucky to even make the playoffs and face San Antonio again.
