Delivery of Package Is Delayed

The proposed trade that would send Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat became more complicated Tuesday night when the Lakers found a clause in Lamar Odom’s contract that would cost them an additional $8 million.

Although the discovery was not expected to be a deal-breaker, the Lakers were considering altering the handshake agreement they reached with the Heat four days ago, in which they would receive Odom, Brian Grant, Caron Butler and a first-round draft pick for O’Neal.

As part of the six-year, $65-million contract he signed as a restricted free agent a year ago, Odom is to be paid $8 million if he is traded. Laker officials were unaware of the trade kicker during the course of trade negotiations with the Heat, according to team sources.

The Heat could absorb some of the kicker or sweeten the deal with another player or draft pick.

The decision to trade O’Neal, owner Jerry Buss said this week, was financially motivated. O’Neal is due $27.7 million next season and $30.6 million the following season, and he had demanded an extension of about $60 million over two more seasons.

For the purposes of matching salaries under the collective bargaining agreement, it is believed Odom’s bonus would be spread over the life of his contract. Therefore, the trade, as it stands, is viable, if not entirely comfortable for the Lakers.

“This will not derail anything,” said one source familiar with the negotiations.

The Lakers and Heat are expected to consult today with the league office, which will verify the details of their trade, now perhaps more fluid than either team expected, check them against the collective bargaining agreement and establish a general target day for physicals, should they be deemed necessary.

The NBA’s moratorium on player movement ended at 9:01 Tuesday night, Newport Beach time. There was nothing from Kobe Bryant, who appears to have narrowed his choices to the Lakers and Clippers.

The league set the salary cap at $43.87 million, up from $43.84 million last season. Based on those numbers, the Clippers can offer Bryant about $100 million over six years after maneuvering to get further under the cap.

The Lakers have offered about $136 million over seven years.

Meanwhile, the Lakers worked to rebuild around Bryant with a few familiar faces.

Agent Marc Fleisher, who represents Slava Medvedenko and Vlade Divac, characterized the Lakers’ multiyear offer to Medvedenko as a decent “starting offer” and Divac as “intrigued by” returning to the Lakers.

The Lakers would like to sign Karl Malone and Divac, but there is the slight complication of what they’d pay them and how.

Malone has done the $1.5-million thing with the Lakers before, and, as agent Dwight Manley said this summer, “Karl gave them a gift for one year, not for two years.” The midlevel exception, about $5 million, is Malone’s if he wants it.

Divac earned $12 million last season. Even at 36, and having had his average playing time fall to 28 minutes in the regular season and 20 in the postseason, Divac might also be a $5-million commodity.

Malone and Divac could split the midlevel. Or Malone could take the $1.65 million he would have had coming anyway.

Malone has drawn interest from the Heat and San Antonio Spurs, among others.

He also is considering retirement, though, it seems, less every day. He is recovering from knee and finger surgeries he expects to have healed by training camp.

The Lakers still hope to bring back Derek Fisher, who has received attention from the Houston Rockets, Seattle SuperSonics and Miami, though the Heat spent about half its midlevel exception -- $2.4 million -- Tuesday on Michael Doleac, a backup for O’Neal, still assuming the trade goes through.

Although the Lakers might have been less enamored of their trade with the Heat, Dallas owner Mark Cuban insists their interest in a trade with the Mavericks was low, perhaps because General Manager Mitch Kupchak’s priority was to get O’Neal out of the Western Conference and perhaps because Cuban let Steve Nash get away on Day 1 of the free-agency period.

A guest on CBS’ “The Late, Late Show” on Monday night, Cuban said he telephoned Kupchak, who told him, “You don’t have anything we want.” Not even, apparently, Dirk Nowitzki.

“I’m saying in no uncertain terms that they did not want Dirk Nowitzki,” Cuban said. “I mean, maybe I’m slow, but maybe when he said that we don’t want anybody on your roster, there’s nobody that you have that we like, I took that to mean he did not want Dirk Nowitzki.”

Asked later whether Bryant could win a championship with the Lakers’ current configuration, Cuban said, “He’s an amazing player, but I don’t think he’s a very good [general manager], so I don’t think so.”

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Laker forward Devean George could sit out the beginning of the season after undergoing surgery Tuesday on his left ankle. According to the Lakers, George had bone spurs and fragments removed and ligaments reconstructed. The ankle will be immobilized for four weeks. Doctors said George should be able to play in four months. ... The Sacramento Kings offered Chris Webber and Bobby Jackson as the foundation of a trade for O’Neal.