Odom’s Surgery Is Not an Issue

In the final analysis, the Clippers were not disappointed forward Lamar Odom waited until last week to have surgery on his sprained right wrist.

Odom, who was injured Dec. 16 and put on the injured list Jan. 24 after trying to play through the pain, is expected to be sidelined three months.

“He thought there was a possibility that he could be back,” Coach Alvin Gentry said. “Only he knows his body. I don’t know if it would have made a difference if he had the surgery a week earlier.”

Odom should be ready by Sept. 1, Gentry said.

“He’ll have a whole month before training camp starts,” he said. “When it comes time to play games, he’ll have had six weeks to get ready.... When you add Lamar back to the mix, it adds a ton of versatility.”

Several Clippers, including Gentry, visited Odom after the surgery and reported that he was in good spirits and looking forward to next season.

Odom played only 29 games in 2001-02.

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Gentry on the notion expressed recently by some observers that the Clippers are better off without Odom:

“I would say they’re idiots. I would say they have no clue about basketball. I would say they’re the same people who were saying Sacramento is better without Chris Webber.”

Elliott Teaford