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."