They say Lamar Odom fancies the Knicks.

As Alan Hahn explained, Lamar Odom has been mentioned as a person of interest for the Knicks for a little while now. Odom apparently shares that interest, and the people who talk to reporters for Odom decided to make that known to Ian Begley:

If the Mavericks are forced to waive Odom, he would become a free agent. In that scenario, the Queens native would likely be looking at a significant pay cut from the $8.2 he was scheduled to make this season.

Would he be interested in coming to New York at a discounted rate?

A source with knowledge of Odom's thinking says yes. The source says the Knicks would be "on the top of his list" if Odom became a free agent.

"Lamar is big on being comfortable," the source said. "And New York is somewhere he can be comfortable."

That selection glances at a couple important points:

1. The Mavs would need to waive Odom, and Odom would need to be willing to play for the veteran's minimum or whatever chunk of an exception the Knicks have left when they're done dealing with their other stuff (said "other stuff" won't be clear for another month or so).

2. Odom had a sad/mad/bad season in Dallas, so the "comfort" thing seems to be a big deal. Unencumbered, Odom is an exceedingly talented basketball player. He knows about passing, scoring, defending-- all of our favorite gerunds. He's really good at sports when he's feeling well.

So, yeah, this will probably be a thing throughout the summer. It's an idea that interests me, too. Glen Grunwald did a nice job of stretching limited funds to fill the '11-'12 team out with talented players who, coming from weird situations, were willing to play relatively cheaply (Baron Davis, J.R. Smith). Signing Odom to a light deal would be another move of that ilk with a legitimate chance of outperforming the previous ones. Of course, some things--Odom's buyout, his asking price as a free agent-- would have to fall into place for such a signing to be plausible. We shall see. For now, it's a name to keep in mind. (And a fun name at that. I love saying "Odom". Say it a few times out loud. Odom. Odom. "The Knicks signed Lamar because they Odom a favor". See? Lots of fun. Odom.)

(Thanks to New Newb for linking this first.)