Lakers coach Phil Jackson says that Lamar Odom has been "invaluable" to the team.
When Odom was a free agent, Jackson urged the organization to re-sign him. The Lakers and Odom agreed to a four-year, $33-million deal in July 2009.
Otherwise, the Lakers might not be back-to-back champions and be talking seriously about winning a third straight NBA championship, Jackson said.
"We made a decision as an organization two years ago to sign Lamar, which put us in a difficult [salary] cap situation," Jackson said. "Yet we're convinced that without him, we wouldn't win a championship again. That was a good decision by the organization."