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Lamar Odom in stunned disbelief over almost being traded

Lamar Odom is still a Laker, but he doesn’t sound completely thrilled about it.

Odom admitted that he was “shocked” and “surprised” when told Thursday afternoon that the Lakers agreed to trade him to the New Orleans Hornets as part of a deal for point guard Chris Paul. But this evening when he heard that the NBA had killed the trade, Odom said he was in “total disbelief” over these new developments…

“Maybe I’ll see you there tomorrow [at practice],” Odom said. “But I doubt it. You don’t want to go to no place you’re not wanted. I’ll try to give them what they want as much as possible.”

Odom also felt bad for Gasol.

“Imagine how Pau feels,” Odom said. “Pau came to the Lakers and played here for four years, went to the Finals and lost, won two NBA championships and then got swept [by the Dallas Mavericks this year]. Wow! Imagine how he must feel.

“Man, I’m just in total disbelief about all of this,” Odom continued. “They don’t want my services, for whatever reason. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I was proud to be a Laker, so I’ll try to help them in the process as much as possible.”

— Reported by Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Blog)

David Stern cancels Chris Paul trade to Lakers

On the eve of the sport’s formal re-opening for business after a five-month lockout, NBA commissioner David Stern sent shockwaves throughout the league Thursday night by nixing the league-owned New Orleans Hornets’ plans to trade guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Within an hour of the Hornets striking an agreement in principle with the Lakers and Houston Rockets on a three-team trade that would have landed Paul in the same backcourt as Kobe Bryant, Stern informed the Hornets that they couldn’t make the trade, stunning team officials who had been working around-the-clock for days in hopes of bringing an end to the Paul saga before the season officially started.

Amid a stream of reports that angry owners were demanding the trade be vetoed, on the same day those owners had gathered in New York to ratify a new labor pact purportedly designed to foster competitive balance and prevent small-market teams from being raided for their stars, league officials tried to dispute claims of a revolt by insisting that the decision was Stern’s.

“It’s not true that the owners killed the deal,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “The deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons.”

Yet in an email to Stern obtained by Yahoo! Sports and The New York Times, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert called the proposed deal “a travesty” and urged Stern to put the deal to a vote of “the 29 owners of the Hornets,” referring to the rest of the league’s teams.

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com

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Kings offer Chuck Hayes $20 million

The Sacramento Kings have offered a four-year contract valued at $20 million to Houston Rockets free agent Chuck Hayes, according to a team source.

The under-the-cap Kings, according to the source, are optimistic Hayes will accept the deal, which would pay the 6-foot-6 forward in the mid-level exception ballpark of $5 million annually.

Said another source close to the process: “Look for [Hayes] to take it.”

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com

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Chuck Hayes hopes to stay with Rockets

While weighing offers from four teams, Rockets center Chuck Hayes’ agent said Hayes’ preference remains to return to the Rockets, his only team in his six NBA seasons.

Hayes has received offered from the Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors, agent Calvin Andrews said. Andrews has also spoken with Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, though not about a specific offer. Hayes turned down an extension offer from the Rockets last June worth roughly $2.5 million per season and Andrews said offers have exceeded that.

— Reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle

Yao Ming now focused on wine-making

Yao Ming is now battling with Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Mario Andretti and Greg Norman.

But this isn’t some made-for-television poker game featuring former sports greats. Yao is joining the ranks of retired athletes with their own winery. This week the eight-time NBA All-Star is launching Yao Family Wines, a California outpost that will be focused on the Chinese market.

“I really like Napa Valley,” Yao told the Wall Street Journal. “California represents vacation, casual [living], sunshine — everything related to a good quality of life.”

Not that the 31-year-old always had a taste for the finer things in life. He knew very little about wine growing up and watched as the people around his hometown of Shanghai poured it over ice cubes. It took a lesson from former teammate Dikembe Mutombo, who was swirling his glass at dinner, to kick-start his interest.

— Reported by ThePostGame.com

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Center Samuel Dalembert interested in Heat, Knicks, Rockets

The 6-foot-11 Dalembert is a free agent. And the Heat is high on his list for when the free agency signing period is expected to begin Dec. 9 following a five-month lockout.

“That would be fantastic,” Dalembert said in an interview Sunday night from Haiti with FOX Sports Florida about the possibility of joining Miami, which is where more than 50 of his relatives live and is about one hour south of his Boca Raton, Fla., home.

As for the volunteering part, it likely would require a big pay cut for Dalembert to join the Heat, which will be over the salary cap. Dalembert, who made $13.43 million last season for Sacramento, might have to sign for the $5 million mid-level exception…

Dalembert said he’s not going to “put my eggs all in one basket” regarding the Heat. So he also named New York and Houston as teams he will consider in free agency.

“It’s one of my options as well,” Dalembert said of New York, where he spent portions of the offseason working out with Elton Brand, once his teammate in Philadelphia. “It’s a building process. It can be similar to Miami when they get all the pieces together. It’s something that can work and they need a big (man)… (Amare Stoudemire) can go to a comfortable situation (if the Knicks get a quality center and Stoudemire can play less at center and more at his natural position of power forward).”

— Reported by Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida

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Suns guard Aaron Brooks signs in China

Phoenix Suns restricted free-agent guard Aaron Brooks has agreed to a one-year deal with Guandong of the Chinese Basketball Association, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Brooks is a popular player in China from his days of playing with Yao Ming in Houston. He’s been talking on and off with Chinese teams for several months, and finally agreed to a deal believed to be worth more than $2 million for the season…

Brooks will play with Washington Wizards free agent Yi Jianlian in Guangdong. The roster also includes Americans Fred Jones and Lester Hudson.

— Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports

Former NBA guard Cuttino Mobley suing Knicks

Former NBA guard Cuttino Mobley sued the Knicks Wednesday in federal court, claiming the team “saved millions” by sending him to a doctor “they knew would disqualify him from playing” due to a heart condition soon after trading for him in 2008.

Mobley claims the Knicks pulled that stunt to save money in payments toward the NBA’s “luxury tax” for teams with high payrolls, and also to clear “room under the salary cap in their request to retain the services of other [marquee] players.”

“Mobley’s career was effectively ended,” says the disability discrimination suit in Manhattan federal court filed by the retired journeyman guard, who before being signed by the Knicks in 2008 had played for the Los Angeles Clippers, leading them to within a game of the Western Conference Finals in 2006.He also played for the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic and Sacramento Kings…

The Knicks, in a statement, strongly denied the allegations that they purposely engineered Mobley’s disqualification from playing as a means to save $19 million in related luxury tax and and salary costs. And the contention in the suit that Mobley’s retirement helped them get under the salary cap to sign players is flawed. Mobley’s contract expired after the 2008-2009 season and the Knicks were attempting to get under the cap to sign players by the summer of 2010. Mobley’s retirement was irrelevant to that strategy.

— Reported by the New York Post

David Robinson buys Houston hotel property

David Robinson’s real estate fund has made its first purchase in the Houston area with the acquisition of a Hilton Hotel.

Hearst blog sister Nancy Sarnoff of the Houston Chronicle’s “Prime Property” real estate blog reports that Robinson’s San Antonio-based Admiral Capital Real Estate Fund LP has acquired an interest in the Hilton Garden Inn at 12245 Katy Freeway. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Express-News staffer Valentino Lucio reports the property is along Interstate 10.

“We’re always looking to build long-term partnerships with like-minded people,” Christopher Nassetta, chief executive officer of Hilton Worldwide, said in a statement.

This is the group’s third acquisition and first investment in the hotel sector.

— Reported by Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News Blog

After retirement, Yao Ming returns to class

It’s back to the books for retired Chinese basketball star Yao Ming.

The former Houston Rockets center and No. 1 draft pick in the 2002 NBA draft started classes this week at Jiaotong University, one of the top schools in the country, China Daily and other newspapers reported Tuesday.

“The teacher showed me some mercy and did not leave me any homework,” Yao joked to reporters after his first day of courses at the university’s Antai College of Economics and Management.

Yao said the first order of business was assessing “how weak my foundation is” and working with instructors on a tailored course of study.

Yao, who retired four months ago because of chronic injuries to his left foot, is taking classes in mathematics, English and modern Chinese history—a subject he enjoyed in high school.

— Reported by the Associated Press