Antawn Jamison met with new Clippers head coach Doc Rivers recently, and by all accounts there was a certain level of mutual interest.
But it appears now that Jamison will have to wait until another player decides if he’ll take what the Clippers are offering to pay to fill that roster spot for next season.
From Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times:
Clippers informed former Laker Antawn Jamison team waiting on answer from Lamar Odom as preferred option before Jamison, sources.
Clippers willing to offer Lamar Odom vet. mim. of $1.4 million. Odom would like more, but no team has offered LO anything more.
Odom’s preference is to stay in Los Angeles, but he’d undoubtedly like his next deal to be for more than one season, even if the veteran’s minimum part holds true. But as we’ve detailed here before, Odom isn’t likely to have a ton of choices.
From Jamison’s side, it’s never easy to hear that you’re a team’s second choice — especially if they’ve been stringing you along up until this point.
From Mark Spears of Yahoo! Sports:
Free agent F Antawn Jamison was led to believe he was signing with LAC before being told today they preferred Lamar Odom, Y! source said.
Ouch.
It’s a tough situation, although if the Clippers are able to come to terms with Odom, it isn’t like Jamison won’t have other options.
But it’s easy to see why Odom is the first choice here. When mentally engaged, he’s obviously the much more versatile player. As has been the case at varying times throughout his career, the only question will be whether he can sustain that focus over the entire course of the season.
