Over the years, we've gotten used to the Los Angeles Lakers and their drama-rama aura.
But the Lamar Odom negotiations were a little strange even by their standards. To sum up the month-long process:
Odom gets a big offer from the Lakers -- basically more money per year than any other team can pay him, largely because of NBA rules -- then heads off to see how much less he can get from someone else.
Nice ploy.
Of course, Odom is back in the fold after all, only a few million short of the original offer, a small price to pay for such risky behavior and to still have the best chance of winning another NBA title.
That's what this is all about anyway, isn't it? Going back to back? And with the Lakers' championship team virtually intact -- actually slightly better off with newcomer Ron Artest than the departed Trevor Ariza -- the 2010 championship is theirs to lose, too.
"We did the best we could do," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said.
If you understand the financial restrictions that the NBA places on its teams, as well as the financial advantages it grants to those teams willing to step up and pay for keeping their own talent, then Kupchak wasn't just patting himself on the back.
It was true. Give credit to owner Jerry Buss for forking over the cash to make this possible. His payroll will end up more than $20 million over the luxury tax threshold, meaning he also has to come up with that additional sum to pay the league.
Not that the Lakers' first family will absorb all the hit. There's always YOU, Lakers fan, who may be asked to chip in somewhere, sometime, even though the organization already announced in March that it would not raise ticket prices for next season.
No worries, though. It's been a solid symbiotic relationship for three decades, the Busses fronting the money and the region's legion of Lakers loyalists making it well worth their while.
Anyway, the defense of the title is on. If expectations of a repeat already were being discussed in Laker Land shortly after Derek Fisher drained his tying three-pointer in Game 4 of the Finals, the events of the summer have only ratcheted up the notion that second-best in 2010 would be a failure of catastrophic proportions.
"I expect us to be better," Odom said, shortly after signing his new contract. "Everyone is back except Trevor and I expect Ron-Ron to step in for him.
"It's another year of experience for everyone. It's going to be hard, but we'll embrace it."
Kupchak issued the obligatory warning that "a lot of teams in the West have made significant changes and upgrades," and singled out San Antonio, Portland, Denver, Dallas and Utah.
"I know I'm missing some," he said, and we were afraid he might even mention the Clippers.
For good measure, he praised moves by Cleveland, Boston and Orlando, too.
"We're very pleased with our team to date," Kupchak said. "But we understand competition, and how it is when you're at the top.
"When you narrow it down to the playoffs, that's when we know we'll be tested."
Yup, yup, yup. But we all know who the overwhelming favorite is, the most obvious choice since the Lakers were in the midst of their 2000 to 2002 trifecta.
Even the last order of business for the team, working on Kobe Bryant's contract extension, won't change that.
But this is the Lakers. We'll leave room for theatrics, just the same.
E-mail Gregg Patton at gpatton(at)PE.com
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
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