Odom Could Miss Rest of the Season

As if the Lakers needed more unsettling news.

Forward Lamar Odom’s strained left shoulder has not improved much over the last two weeks and he might be sidelined the rest of the season if the Lakers are officially eliminated from the playoffs next week.

Odom has been listed as day-to-day since he was injured March 18 against the Indiana Pacers, but he sat out a sixth consecutive game after team doctor Steve Lombardo did not clear him to play Thursday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Odom, the team’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, still can’t resist much pressure with his shoulder and would have trouble fighting off players in the post. Neither he nor Laker officials want him to come back too early, worsen the slight labrum tear in his shoulder and face off-season surgery.

“If it has to take to the end of the season [to recover], that’s what I have to do,” Odom said when asked if he would play again this season. “I don’t want to say yes, I don’t want to say no. I rehab it every day, try to get it stronger.”

Odom, averaging 15.2 points and 10.2 rebounds, spent most of last summer with the U.S. National Team and planned to spend most of this summer increasing his strength. He has already targeted a primary motivation.

“I guess after being in Miami and making the playoffs then coming back here [after] being traded for Shaquille O’Neal and not making the playoffs, I definitely want that success again, seeing what it’s like to win as a Laker,” Odom said. “For me it wasn’t a good year. I would like to be in the playoffs.”

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The Lakers ripped up their roster during the off-season with the specific goal of not becoming the Chicago Bulls, who went through numerous losing seasons after Michael Jordon’s retirement before finally becoming a playoff-caliber team this season.

Laker Coach Frank Hamblen, an assistant under Phil Jackson for two championship runs with the Bulls, said he didn’t think the Lakers would take as long to turn around their declining fortunes.

“It’ll happen eventually,” Hamblen said. “Look at the Bulls. It’s taken them a while to get back, but I don’t envision it here taking that long.”

With their current roster, the Lakers would be hamstrung by the salary cap until Brian Grant’s weighty contract expires after the 2006-07 season. Grant, averaging 3.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in 16.1 minutes before Thursday’s game, will make $14.3 million next season and $15.4 million in 2006-07.