Hooped Up

It was believed only one of them would stay, until the Lakers high-stepped through the last two weeks of the playoffs with relative ease, winning the last two games of the Western Conference finals against a physical, feisty Denver team before disposing of Orlando. The recent sentiment is that there might be room for both Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom. Lakers Coach Phil Jackson even said as much last week, saying it wasn’t “written in stone” that the team would have to make an either/or decision with the two players. Basically, it comes down to owner Jerry Buss, who has stepped up financially numerous times over the years, most recently by signing Andrew Bynum to a four-year, $57.4-million contract extension last October and, before that, absorbing an extra $49 million in salary by acquiring Pau Gasol in February 2008.

Los Angeles Times