It’s important to remember that professional athletes are not superheroes. Take away their phenomenal athletic ability and they are just like us; humans with emotions, fears, and weaknesses. It may not always show in their public appearances, but there’s a lot more going on under the surface then we realize. Vulnerabilities aren’t all that fun to look at, which is why personal scandals make mainstream news and seem to pop up all the time in the world of sports.
This is certainly the case with 2-time NBA Champion Lamar Odom. Prior to his DUI arrest and reported heavy drug use this past summer, Odom had no problem living a life under the spotlight. The former Los Angeles Laker is a mainstream celebrity in L.A., thanks to his very public relationship with reality television star Khloe Kardashian. He was traded from the Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks in late 2011, but failed to click with his new team, playing in only 50 games before he was deemed inactive for the rest of the season.
His recent problems seem to stem from his short lived tenure in Dallas after being traded to the Mavericks. The move reportedly transpired because Odom felt “disrespected” that the Lakers attempted to trade him to New Orleans in the vetoed Chris Paul trade. During his time in Dallas, Odom reportedly showed up out of shape, apathetic, and had a contentious relationship with outspoken owner Mark Cuban. He eventually found himself playing for the Los Angeles Clipper for the 2012-2013 season, which was the original team that drafted him out of Rhode Island in 1999. Odom performed much better that season, playing in all 82 games for the Clips. Although he may have been out there for the whole season, he was clearly a shell of the player he once was. The 2011 Sixth Man of the Year for the Lakers couldn’t perform at the high level he played at just two years earlier.
This past offseason, no team courted Odom to sign a free agent contract. Then, in late August 2013, the wheels appeared to come off for Odom. After the DUI arrest, numerous reports started surfacing that Odom had been involved in heavy drug use, which included Oxycontin and crack cocaine. Odom was also “missing” for a short period of time, while some speculated that he was holed up in a rental house doing drugs and refusing to leave.
This wasn’t the beginning of rough times for Odom, who also had a very difficult upbringing. Writer Lee Jenkins wrote this about Odom for Sports Illustrated in 2009:
"The happiest Laker is one whose father was addicted to heroin; whose mother died of colon cancer when he was 12; who attended three high schools; had his first college scholarship revoked before the fall of his freshman year; became a subject of three college investigations; declared for the NBA draft; tried unsuccessfully to pull out of the draft; was picked by arguably the worst franchise in sports; violated the league's antidrug policy twice within eight months; and, after finally getting his life together, went home to New York City for an aunt's funeral and wound up burying his 6 1/2-month-old son, Jayden, then getting robbed at gunpoint."
Odom was once a very talented basketball player. It’s a shame to not to see him on the court anymore, knowing the reason may be because of issues that transcend sports. I truly wish him the best and hope he can return to basketball one day, healthy and ready to compete. But if the fascinating Royce White has thought us anything, sometimes mental disorders, addiction, depression and the world of sports just don’t mix.
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