Who will Lamar Odom play for next season? That's currently out of his control. He's under contract with the Dallas Mavericks, who likely will trade him or waive him.

But a source with knowledge of Odom's thinking says the New York Knicks would be "on the top of his list" if the Queens native becomes a free agent.

"Lamar is big on being comfortable," the source said. "And New York is somewhere he can be comfortable."

The Knicks' interest in Odom is unclear at this point.

They likely will be limited in their spending this summer. New York is expected to use its mid-level exception to retain restricted free-agent Jeremy Lin, which would leave the organization with little money to spend on free agents.

It's also unclear at this point if Odom will become a free agent.

The Mavs are expected to attempt to trade Odom before June 29. Any team that has Odom on its roster on that date must buy him out for $2.4 million or otherwise accept responsibility for the full $8.2 million that Odom is scheduled to earn in 2012-13.

If Dallas can't deal Odom in a trade, it likely will waive him and be responsible for paying him $2.4 million in guaranteed money. That's something Dallas would rather avoid.