What has elevated the Lakers this season has been greater team-wide grit, and the second-year guard is bringing plenty of it.

By Kevin Ding, OC Register

Lamar Odom set an NBA record for the longest streak of postgame singing in the shower with his performance late Sunday night in Seattle. Jordan Farmar was fully capable as Odom’s backup singer. These Lakers are indeed a glee club now.

And even though they have everything to play for in these coming months, there’s more: They’re going to have everything to play for in these comingyears.

That’s the beauty of the Lakers’ makeover – unlike Phoenix’s facelift (Shaquille O’Neal, 36 next week) and Dallas’ Botox injection (Jason Kidd, 35 next month). Kobe Bryant is 29, Pau Gasol is 27, Andrew Bynum is 20 and Farmar is 21. Yes, Farmar very much merits mention in that line, because the day is most surely coming when Farmar is more valuable to the Lakers than Odom.

Excising Odom might wind up the solution to the Lakers’ biggest future problem, if Jerry Buss chooses to view it as a problem: a hefty luxury-tax hit looming in the 2009-10 season. Future payroll was why so many other NBA owners didn’t want to trade nothing (a big, expiring contract such as Kwame Brown’s) for something (a big, non-expiring contract such as Gasol’s).

Although exactly how high the pile of money goes will be a point of offseason contention, Bynum will need that computer he built to count all the zeroes on the contract extension he’s getting. It will kick in after next season – and the easiest way to offset that jump in Bynum’s salary will be to let Odom’s contract expire after next season. That’s a tough move to make if you’re contending for or already winning championships, because Odom, 28, is a certainly part of the Lakers’ uncommon crew of happy-to-share big men.

 Full Story

• Triangle Thoughts From Farmar And Gasol
• Farmar on upward arc for Lakers
• Fisher’s Leadership Helps Spur Success for Farmar, Lakers
• Lakers Re-grouping Plan
• Thoughts for Next Season