The Los Angeles Lakers traded Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks along with a second pick in exchange for a first pick and a $8.9 million trade exception.

The approval to the new collective bargaining agreement arrived, voted by 25 owners of 30 and 86% of the over 200 players who have voted so at last we can officially say that NBA basketball is back and the new season will start at Christmas.

The last meeting between NBA owners and players to try to reach a new collective bargaining agreement produced no results. Unfortunately this outcome was predictable and as a consequence the NBA owners have announced the start of the lock out.

The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA title 2011 defeating the Miami Heat 4-2 in the Finals. Dirk Nowitzki was elected MVP of the final series. For Dallas it’s the first title and the revenge for the Finals lost to the Miami Heat in 2006.

Yesterday we received the sad news of the death of basketball player Robert Traylor, apparently due to a heart attack. He was only 34 and was universally known as “Tractor” due to his large size.