Lamar Odom Ripped by Charles Barkley for Collecting NBA Salary

ESPN Dallas — As our own Dan Evon reported earlier this week, Lamar Odom isn’t playing for the Dallas Mavericks anymore. But that doesn’t mean he’s not getting paid as if he’s still with the team.

Because the Mavericks decided to make Odom “inactive” rather than releasing him altogether, the 13-year NBA veteran will continue to collect paychecks from team owner Mark Cuban for the remainder of the 2012 season. And that doesn’t sit well with at least one former NBA superstar.

“I always pull for the players, but the fact that they’ve got to pay him I think is a joke,” TNT analyst Charles Barkley said during his Wednesday appearance on ESPN Dallas 103.3’s Galloway & Co. “I mean, because he didn’t earn his salary. He didn’t earn it at all.

“I like Lamar as a person, but I’m disappointed about everything that happened in Dallas. And it’s a shame that the Mavs got to pay him, to be honest with you, because he doesn’t deserve to get paid for what he put out there this year. He doesn’t deserve it, plain and simple.”

But Barkley wasn’t close to being done with discussing Odom after making those comments. Sir Charles continued on with the topic and took it a step further.

“To sit at home and make that kind of money really pisses me off, to be honest with you, for the effort that he put out there,” Barkley said. “He’s going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars these next two paychecks. … That’s not fair to the Mavs. It’s not fair to the game of basketball.

“I’m just disappointed in Lamar.”

SB Nation’s Ben Golliver breaks down Lamar Odom’s decision to leave the Mavericks below:

via ESPN