Art Thompson III reports that the Clippers injury news continues to change. Lamar Odom will be in the lineup tonight for the first time in almost a year. He has finally recovered from a string of injuries and is cleared to play.

Thompson writes, "He has been absent so long, half of his teammates have never played with him. They have not seen him impact a game, disrupt an opponent or elevate the Clippers. They don't know that, when Odom is healthy, he is the team's best player."

Odom has been practicing for a while and has been dominant in the last couple of weeks. He can?t wait to see if that success will carry over into live play. "After all of this time off, this is like my rookie year," Odom said. "I'm really looking forward to it. I miss making plays. I miss hearing the crowd. I miss just being out there. I've never missed basketball this much."

Odom understands that everything may not click at first. "Mentally, it's going to be a challenge as far as working my way back into game condition. I know I'll be rusty at first. It's not like you're talking about someone that's been out for a week. The most important thing for me to do is to stay patient and stay poised. It's not like the team is expecting me to go out and score 30 points. We have enough talent that I won't have to try to win games by myself."

Thompson also reports that as one player returns, another one falls. With Odom ready to play tomorrow, the Clippers lost Marko Jaric last night. He suffered a high ankle sprain in the Clippers? loss to Phoenix.

It appears Jaric will be out indefinitely, although he tried to remain optimistic. "I stepped on somebody's foot,'' said Jaric, who had started the past seven games. "I'm hoping everything is going to be OK."

Art Thompson III of the Orange County Register gives us a Clipper injury update. The big news is that Corey Maggette is ready to play. Unfortunately Eric Piatkowski isn?t.

With Magette recovered from knee surgery and Piatkowski still suffering with a lower abdominal strain, The players swapped positions on the roster. Magette was activated from the injured list while Piatkowski was added tot he list. "It's only going to be for a week,'' Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said. "I don't think that he (Piatkowski) would have been able to play the next five games.''

Maggette averaged 14 points in his 14 starts this season. Piatkowski is the team?s best perimeter shooter. His absence has been softened by the superior play of Quentin Richardson and Marko Jaric.

Andre Miller was held out of practice to rest his sore ankle. He has been playing through the pain for a month now. "It was good for Andre to get five days rest,'' Gentry said. "Resting him was our plan right from the start, but we won't know how he responded to it until we get out there and play.''

Elton Brand?s strained right calf continues to slow him down. He has missed the last two games and will be evaluated before tonight?s game to determine whether he is ready to play.

Back up center Sean Rooks did not even make the trip with the team because of bronchitis.

Marc Spears of the Denver Post reports on the Nuggets and their 92-89 loss in LA to the Clippers.

Juwan Howard had a season high 30 points in the game.  The Nuggets have now lost 8 road games in a row.

Art Thompson III of the Los Angeles Times reports that the loss to the Blazers really hurt the Clippers, but their injuries are continuing to hurt as well.

Wednesday?s 97-93 loss to Portland was a bad one to swallow because the Clippers had a 4th quarter, 15-point lead but let it slip away. "It really is a shame because we played very good basketball,'' Coach Alvin Gentry said after putting the team through a two-hour practice. "We just can't shoot 4 for 15 in the fourth quarter. The guys want to do the right thing. We just have to make sure that we're executing. We had a good roll going, and if we had won the game, our confidence level probably would be as high as it could be.''

The Clippers have no time to pity themselves as they face the Suns tonight in Staples Center and they are still struggling with injuries.

Andre Miller sprained his ankle three weeks ago. He sat out one game and limped through eight others. He had 25 points and 8 assists in the loss to the Blazers, but he was hobbling on his injured ankle. Gentry held Miller out of Thursday?s practice and plans to rest him as much as possible next week when they play only two games in seven days.

"We have to keep monitoring him,'' Gentry said. "He wants to play, but we probably have to look at that situation. The only thing is, if you take him out and sit him down, the ankle tightens up.''

Adding to the injury woes is guard Eric Piatkowski. He has missed four games with a lower abdominal strain and is listed as "out" for tonight's game and Saturday's game against the Denver Nuggets. "I saw a specialist Tuesday,'' Piatkowski said. "I've had this before. I hope to be back the first game we play after Christmas."

Readers have spoken.
     
They want Andre.
     
Last week in this space, readers were offered the opportunity to play Jazz general manager and say what they would do in the upcoming free-agent market with all the salary-cap room Utah might have.
     
They were instructed to try to be realistic ? which means forgetting about Tim Duncan and Jason Kidd ? and to consider such factors as position overcrowding and which players are likely to come to Utah.
     
Based on two assumptions ? that John Stockton will retire after this season and that Raul Lopez's future is still uncertain ? readers think the Jazz's best free-agent acquisition next summer would be Clipper, and ex-Ute, point guard Andre Miller.
     
"Not only will (Clippers owner) Don Sterling not sign Miller for the max, but he will somehow find a way to force Miller not to re-sign with the Clippers," said Michael O. Miller of Santa Barbara, Calif. "Jazz should sign Miller for any price; besides he will fill the seats. Additionally, I believe Miller can help (DeShawn) Stevenson, (Matt) Harpring and (Andrei) Kirilenko by giving them the ball where they like it for better scoring opportunities."

Elliot Teaford of the L.A. Times reports that Lamar Odom may be close to returning for the Clippers. He practiced with the team for the first time in 11 months yesterday. He participated in many of the drills, moving at about 60% of full speed on his injured right ankle.

Odom hasn?t played since Jan. 24 when he was placed on the injured list with a sprained wrist. While rehabbing the wrist, he sprained his ankle when he stepped on a stray basketball. He re-injured the ankle during the summer and had it placed in a hard cast in August.

"I feel like I just took a step forward," said Odom. "I can see a light at the end of the tunnel."

"With a couple more practices like this one I should be better," said Odom. "It doesn't react right yet. I've got to tell it what to do. 'Move. Go that way.' There's still some swelling."

The Clippers are being cautious with Odom. They will wait and see how the ankle responds to practice, but their tentative return date is Christmas. Coach Alvin Gentry seemed pleased enough to see Odom on the floor. But Gentry cautioned against expecting too much too soon from Odom.

"Obviously, he's not in midseason form, but it's a start," Gentry said. "When you're out that long, it's going to take a while to get back. It's taking Shaq [O'Neal, Laker center,] a while to get back, and he's the best player in the league by far. [Odom] is in the preliminary stages right now. He's doing drills and running through some plays."

"I'm getting ready to get back to what I do," Odom said. "That's playing basketball. I feel like I'm part of a team again. I get through this and I'll get through anything."

The Los Angeles Clippers center Michael Olowokandi on the injured list Sunday, ESPN.com is reporting.  Olowonkandi has been bothered with a sore left knee.  Tremaine Fowlkes was activated for last night's loss to Indiana, a game which All-Star Andre Miller also missed after spraining his ankle against Sacramento on Friday.

Miller is listed as day to day, while Olowonkandi must miss at least the next five games.