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    Williams returning to Jazz; Odom heads to LA

    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Mo Williams will be reunited with the Utah Jazz as part of a four-team deal that will send Lamar Odom back to Los Angeles for a second chance with the Clippers.

    William's agent, Mark Bartelstein, initially told The Associated Press the deal was finalized about 3:45 p.m. MDT Friday, and the Jazz and Clippers officially announced it in releases three hours later.

    The deal initially was believed to involve only three teams, but a fourth, the Houston Rockets, got involved after Thursday's draft. The Rockets received the rights to the Clippers' 53rd overall pick, Furkan Aldemir, and the Jazz sent the team's trade exception to Dallas. The Mavs also received cash considerations from Houston.

    Williams must pass a physical but is expected to hold a news conference in Salt Lake City on Monday or Tuesday.

    The Jazz drafted Williams in 2003 but allowed him to leave after one season, a decision that general manager Kevin O'Connor said was the worst he ever made.

    Dallas faced a Friday deadline on a $2.4 million buyout of Odom's $8.2 million option for next season.

    Williams' decision to exercise his $8.5 million player option cleared the way for the deal.

    ''He's really excited,'' Bartelstein said. ''This is where his career started. They've got a terrific young team. He thinks he can come in and bring real leadership. He's excited about that. They made it clear how much they wanted him. They did a good job of recruiting him.''

    Williams played in 57 games as a rookie before going to Milwaukee. He eventually became a starter and was an All-Star as recently as 2009.

    Asked to recall the amount he let Williams leave Utah for, O'Connor on Thursday night shook his head and said, ''It wasn't that much.''

    Bartelstein, who has several other players on the team, found it hard to fault the Jazz.

    ''Mo was a really young player at that time,'' he said. ''Kevin has wanted him back for a long time. Now, he's got him back. I think it's a great fit.''

    Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin has made no effort to hide how much he likes Williams, calling him a great player Thursday.

    Bartelstein said reports that Williams was blocking the trade were untrue. He said they simply needed to do their ''due diligence'' and make sure it was the best decision.

    Williams, 29, is in the final year of a contract that will pay him $8.5 million.

    While Williams put up solid numbers in Los Angeles under difficult circumstances, Odom - drafted fourth overall by the Clippers in 1999 - is coming off an underwhelming 50-game stint with Dallas that didn't even take him through the entire season. He was the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year for the Lakers for the 2010-11 season.

    The Mavericks on April 9 said Odom would be inactive for the rest of the season, when the then-defending NBA champions still had nine regular season games left and were making their push toward the playoffs. That move came two days after a heated halftime exchange between Odom and Dallas owner Mark Cuban, who questioned the player's commitment to the team.

    Odom's averages of 6.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 20.5 minutes in Dallas were career lows. The 32-year-old Odom has averaged 14.2 points and 8.6 rebounds in 879 career games.

    The four-team deal provides the Mavericks with an $8.2 million trade exception, similar to what they used to acquire Odom from the Los Angeles Lakers last December.

    The Jazz, meanwhile, get another veteran guard.

    Utah already has Devin Harris at point guard. But team officials have said they could make it work with both Harris and Williams.

    Bartelstein confirmed Harris was not part of the trade.

    Williams averaged 13.2 points and 3.1 assists in 52 games last season for the Clippers, who acquired him in a trade from Cleveland in February 2011. In 589 career games, he has averaged 13.8 points and 4.9 assists.

    He played out of position much of last season after the blockbuster deal that brought Chris Paul to the Clippers and the team then acquired Chauncey Billups.

    The Jazz took Williams 47th overall in 2003.

    Also Friday, the Jazz exercised their option on guard Jamaal Tinsley for the 2012-13 season, and tendered a qualifying offer to forward Jeremy Evans.

    ---

    AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins in Dallas contributed to this report.

     

    169 comments

    • lakeqi  •  12 hours ago
      If Kobe wants another ring so bad, why doenst he give up some of that money so the Lakers can get in the game?
    • Steven  •  1 hour 36 minutes ago
      Back where it all started for L Odom, a Clipper again!
    • BallsofKungfucious  •  Kathmandu, Nepal  •  2 hours 10 minutes ago
      Odom....i gather he is going to be doing a 2 year stint here, and 2 year stint over there for the rest of his career...

      Hopefully CP can find him a heart
    • Go-Utes  •  Salt Lake City, Utah  •  1 day 8 hours ago
      Hugging nice....
    • Projectavalon.  •  11 hours ago
      Next on "Keeping up with the Kardashians"... Khloe gets her wish. Great, can't wait for that totally non-staged reunion.
    • Jason Balkum  •  Rochester, New York  •  1 day 2 hours ago
      I did not know that Jamaal Tinsley was even still in the league. And the kid Machado from Iona can't get a shot? Are you kidding me? And teams wonder why they have no chance of wining or getting better.
      • Oscar 22 hours ago
        I'm a Tinsley fan. I didn't know where he was either until late in the season. Utah played him sideways. he has a good floor game
    • Chubby Goat  •  1 day 15 hours ago
      "The Jazz drafted Williams in 2003 but allowed him to leave after one season, a decision that general manager Kevin O'Connor said was the worst he ever made."

      If allowing Williams to leave was in any way connected to signing Carlos Boozer, then I agree with O'Connor's declaration. If the 2 events of the 2004 offseason were independent of each other, then (if I smoked) I would want what O'Connor's smoking. Letting Williams go was far from a genius move, but the real problem with the Jazz from 2004 forward was killing team chemistry by the "addition" of Boozer.
      • jack 13 hours ago
        and the defection of John's protege, D. Williams
      • todd 2 hours 6 minutes ago
        It's funny that Boozer's signing was viewed poorly in Utah, too, because here in Cleveland, it was devastating when he left. Has one signing ever hurt both former and new teams so badly? Ha!
    • DwightKSchrute  •  1 day 12 hours ago
      Was Lamar even willing to play anywhere BUT LA?? He would probably retire instead
      • james 1 day 11 hours ago
        Plus he sucks
      • JT 1 day 11 hours ago
        Yeah you always get named 6th man of the year when you suck.
      • Oscar 22 hours ago
        he was riding kobe's back, garbage can man. he has a kardashian on pay roll, retirement is out of the question. do you know how much heels cost?!
    • Don  •  Springfield, Missouri  •  11 hours ago
      Odom should have married the other loser..Kim..joining the I-screw-everyone-Club!
      • Heat Seeker 11 hours ago
        Lamar, said you should married these Nuts !
      • RobertM 8 hours ago
        Get some class don.
    • Jim Mulvan  •  Trenton, New Jersey  •  12 hours ago
      Odoms is a quiter and a bum...they should have traded him to some obscure team in a backwoods city and he probably would have retired... what a piece of crap
    • RMO  •  19 hours ago
      Probably another burst for Lamar. The Kardashians are bad for business!
    • The Drumming Chef  •  19 hours ago
      I've seen Lobsters with more will to win than this Cream Puff!
    • Andrew Jones  •  11 hours ago
      Odom may have hit the jack pot here, Paul and big G needed this type o player to compliment them. Watch, this could be a solid trade come november.
    • b  •  1 day 0 hours ago
      The smell of Odom to spread back at LA
    • b  •  16 hours ago
      The Odom Pie Hole Train is pulling into LAX
    • Michael Stanton  •  Canandaigua, New York  •  17 hours ago
      QUITER
    • Justin  •  19 hours ago
      During the playoffs, Mo Williams was probably the Clippers 2nd or 3rd best player on most nights. Why they would give him up for Odom is beyond me.
    • C.O. Jones  •  19 hours ago
      Lamar can't help the Clippers, he can't even help himself. He is tied up with all the Reality TV and the Kardashians and he is not focused on the game. He needed to go away far, like to Miami, where the Kardashians can still be celebs, just not in LA.
    • The Drumming Chef  •  19 hours ago
      I saw that the Cream Puff Lakers resigned Ebanks & Morris,
      they are worthy of $11 million by scoring a combined 6 points per game?
      ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!
    • Hitman  •  Houston, Texas  •  1 day 3 hours ago
      The Clippers must have rocks in their heads to get Odumb. He has not been worth a thing since he got married.