Lamar Odom’s journey since the veto has been the stuff Hollywood downfall stories are made of. In 2010-2011, Odom was the NBA’s 6th man of the year.
Although the Lakers were swept out of the playoffs by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks, Odom had every right to believe he was an essential part of the Lakers for the foreseeable future, or at least for the two years remaining on his contract. So, when the Lakers sent him to New Orleans, Odom had every right to be shocked and upset.
In the interest of full disclosure, Odom has always been one of my favorite players in the league. His unselfishness and diverse skill set makes him a glue guy that good teams win with.
However, the Lakers soured on him for reasons that had nothing to do with Odom’s game. On September 27, 2009, Odom married reality TV star Khloe Kardashian and with his wedding vows, he also vowed to spend the majority of his life being followed around by cameras. Odom promised this new high-profile life of his wouldn’t affect his play on the court and in all fairness to Lamar, it didn’t. Nonetheless, the Lakers were not all that interested in being associated with the brand of drama that goes along with being on TV with the Kardashians. By the way, I wouldn’t know that first hand. The last time I watched a Kardashian on TV, it was the O.J. Simpson trial. Regardless, parting with Mr. Khloe Kardashian as part of a package to bring in Chris Paul was a no brainer for L.A.
When Odom essentially got returned to the Lakers, he had taken it all too personally to just go back like nothing had happened. Over the course of the last few years, he had dealt with some significant tragedy in his personal life. In July of 2011, two days apart, he lost his 24-year-old cousin who he was very close to and a limousine in which he as a passenger hit a 15-year-old boy on a bicycle and killed him while he was in New York for his cousin’s funeral. These events and his estranged father’s ongoing illness and eventual death affected Lamar deeply. And as insensitive as it sounds, none of this serves as an excuse for his lapses in professionalism. His initial reaction after the trade was to tell Laker GM Mitch Kupchak that he was seriously considering retiring from basketball. So, literally, the day after the Paul trade was rescinded, Kupchak traded Odom to the defending champion Dallas Mavericks for a heavily protected first round pick.
Odom decided to report to Dallas and very frankly, it probably would have been better if he took the year off. Odom was miserable to be out of Los Angeles. He showed up at training camp grossly out of shape. He displayed a blatant indifference towards the game of basketball. Dallas owner Mark Cuban spent much of the season infuriated with Odom to such an extent that every problem last year’s Mavs had, and they had plenty, was pinned on Odom.
The Mavs eventually sent Odom home before the end of the season. Then, as soon as they could, traded him. The destination would prove to be as lucky of a break as Odom could have gotten.
Odom was trade back to L.A. but this time it was the Clippers.
The Clippers, who weren’t bringing back Kenyon Martin, had a need for a quality bench big man and Lamar was the perfect fit. Of course, in classic Kardashian fashion, Odom couldn’t make it easy.
He showed up to training camp out of shape, which is tough to comprehend considering that he soiled his reputation in Dallas largely due to his abysmal conditioning. Then, early in training camp, he sustained a bone bruise in his knee, which set him back. However, unlike his time in Dallas, Odom was truly determined to being a significant contributor. In the last week, he has started to show signs of being the Lamar Odom who won 6th man of the year. It’s become now or never for Odom’s career. His contract expires at the end of the season and if he doesn’t make it work now back in his L.A. home, he’s going to have all the time in the world to keep up with the Kardashians.
Out of all of the returned merchandise in the vetoed Chris Paul trade, none of the stories are as curious as is the one that belongs to Pau Gasol.
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