Odom Might Need Surgery

The Clippers expect to send Lamar Odom to a specialist to determine whether his sprained right wrist will require season-ending surgery. Odom has been on the injured list since Jan. 24. He also has a sprained right ankle, which would prevent him from playing even if his wrist were sound.

“If it’s not responding, there’s a possibility of surgery,” Coach Alvin Gentry said of Odom, who was injured when he fell during the Clippers’ victory Dec. 16 against the Detroit Pistons. “His wrist hasn’t been right since he fell on it.”

Odom played several games, then sat out three before returning Jan. 2. He was far from effective, however, and it was decided later that month that he should go on the injured list.

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Corey Maggette’s recovery from two dislocated bones in his right hand is progressing faster than expected and he might be fit to play before the end of the regular season.

Maggette, who went on the injured list Feb. 22, had arthroscopic surgery on his sore left knee in the hope that his knee would mend faster than his wrist. At present, it appears the Clippers’ plan has worked out.

“We’re talking about Steve Austin here,” Gentry said, referring to the lead character from the old TV series, “The Six Million Dollar Man.”

“There’s an outside chance he could be ready .... We talked today at the shoot-around, though, and I told him, ‘If you’re supposed to rehab for 90 minutes, going for three hours isn’t going to make it better twice as fast.’”

Gentry said an earlier prediction that Keyon Dooling would not play again this season was close to becoming a reality. Dooling sprained his left ankle Nov. 14 and played only six games before returning to the injured list March 4.

Gentry is as pleased as anyone that Washington Coach Doug Collins has landed another NBA gig after the Detroit Pistons let him go during the 1997-98 season. Gentry took over after Collins was fired and they remain close friends.

“It was almost like he was unappreciated there,” Gentry said. “He’s a really passionate guy, an unbelievably loyal guy. There’s not one thing I could need that I couldn’t call him up and get.”