There is no question that Lamar Odom was a gifted athlete who could have been ranked among the greats. Although the 6-foot-10 forward has won two rings and became one of the best glue guys to ever play, he never officially reached the All-Star level.
Odom's pro basketball career started auspiciously. After initially thinking he was not ready for the NBA, the Candy Man ended up getting picked 4th by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1999 Draft.
Odom would go on to shine with the Clippers in his first two seasons in the league. However, a big problem cropped up in March 2001. This was the time Lamar was caught violating the league's anti-drug policy, resulting in a five-game suspension. It was his first offense.
Worsening drug problem
Being his first infraction, Odom should have known better than to try marijuana again. But as it turned out, he continued to do so. He alleged that he was experimenting on it and refused to admit that he needed help.
"I chose to experiment with marijuana; that's why I'm here right now," Odom said via the New York Times. "I'll be receiving counseling. That's not rehab."
This meant another five-game suspension for Odom. It dealt a big blow to the Clippers at the time, leaving general manager Elgin Baylor very disappointed.
"Lamar has let his teammates down as well as our entire organization. But, at the same time, we must remain supportive and available to help him confront this issue in a positive and corrective way," Baylor said via the Los Angeles Times.
With Odom missing a lot of games, the Clippers never got to improve on their regular season performance. They never went over .500 in those four seasons with Lamar, and both sides went in different directions in 2003.
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Why Odom lost focus
In the four seasons he was there, Odom never got to push the Clips to a respectable record. They hardly came close to making a postseason appearance.
Pete Chilcutt, someone who was on the Clippers roster in 2000, recalled how the team was performing very badly at the time. Worse, Los Angeles did not have veterans who could properly guide young players as Odom did at the time.
"Sometimes, when you get these young players to play on very bad teams, everything just goes out of whack. We had no real good senior leadership or players who have been through the tough times that could help him out. He was kind of learning on his own and eventually made some bad choices," former Clippers player Pete Chilcutt shared on Sports Bytes Philippines.
Regardless of how his first few years went, L.O. would figure things out. Although he had a good run with the Miami Heat for a season, it was with the Los Angeles Lakers where he stood out.
Aside from two NBA championships, Odom won the 2011 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award - the first player in Lakers history ever to do so. Unfortunately, his basketball career would take an unfortunate turn after he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks that same year.
"I was never really myself ever again. Being in L.A., the structure, the people I knew, it hurt leaving," Odom said .
Odom was hardly a shade of the player he was when he played for the Purple and Gold with the Mavs. He did return to the Clippers in 2012, but Lamar was just a different player than most knew him to be. He would take his act overseas and quietly faded from the pro basketball scene.
Lamar's serious drug issues started after he retired. Cocaine and crack were only some of the stuff he was using. Once, he was in a coma for three days due to combining cocaine and Viagra-like medicine, as he barely escaped with his life.
Related: Lamar Odom reveals that the tragic death of his son nearly caused him to retire from the NBA
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