Brown agrees to stay

Shannon Brown has agreed to a two-season contract worth $4.2 million, his agent said today. Brown turned his back on more lucrative offers from other teams to return to the Lakers, agent Mark Bartlestein said. “The Lakers did a tremendous job of recruiting him to stay,” Bartlestein said. “And he really wanted to stay.” The Lakers acquired Brown and Adam Morrison in the Feb. 7 trade that sent Vladimir Radmanovic to the Charlotte Bobcats.

With Brown back in the fold and Ron Artest coming from Houston to replace Trevor Ariza, plus Kobe Bryant deciding against opting out of his contract and Phil Jackson announcing he would return for at least one more season, there’s only one deal still to be struck. Lamar Odom still needs a new contract. There’s been no public statement from Odom or his agent Jeff Schwartz, which means whatever you take it to mean.