DALLAS -- Lamar Odom said that the Los Angeles Lakers' decision to package him in a deal to the New Orleans Hornets hurt, but it was not being informed that the trade was in place that ultimately severed the relationship and landed the forward with the Dallas Mavericks.

Odom made his debut of sorts at Tuesday's media day wearing the Mavericks' home white uniform and speaking out for the first time about his separation from the team he had spent the past seven seasons with and won two titles, and joining the enemy that swept the Lakers out of the playoffs.

"It's surreal, it's definitely surreal," Odom said. "It happened, you know, like that."

Mavs owner Mark Cuban has said the deal that brought Odom to Dallas for a trade exception and second-round draft picks took less than three hours to pull off after the Lakers pulled out of the three-team deal that would have sent Odom to the Hornets and All-Star point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers.

Odom said he and his agent, Jeff Schwartz, had no idea that the 6-foot-10 forward was involved in the would-be blockbuster trade package.

When Odom found out, he suggested he was irate.

"Yeah, um, I can't cuss. That's not where I wanted to be," Odom said of New Orleans. "No disrespect to anybody on that team or the city or the ownership. But it's not a place that I wanted to be after playing for the Lakers, a team that contends for a championship. That's what you expect to be around. It was hard for me to picture myself there starting over."

Odom then said the manner in which Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak went about it stung more than the fact he was leaving L.A. or even that the destination was to the troubled Hornets' franchise.

"It wasn't about going to New Orleans. It was just about how they did it," Odom said. "I felt a little disrespected. After being here for so long and going through so many things, I felt like they could have just told me and I probably would have accepted it. If someone is telling you that you can't be here or there's no more room for you, you got to understand that. I think because it's just how they did it is the reason why I took it so personal."

Emotionally stung, Odom said he told his agent and Kupchak to arrange the breakup.