Lamar Odom’s Drug Use May Go Back To Lakers Days

Considering no one involved with the Lamar Odom drug scandal has spoken on the record, it’s probably improper to say the former NBA star’s world is on fire. Instead, let’s just say there’s a hell of a lot of smoke, and that smoke seems to be getting thicker by the hour. Reports are now emerging that Odom’s alleged cocaine/ crack usage may stretch all the way back to his time with the Lakers.

According to TMZ, Odom stayed in a Westin Hotel with the rest of his Mavericks teammates in Memphis not long before Mark Cuban paid him to go away. Upon checkout, employees allegedly discovered a horror scene in the big man’s room. There were apparently carpet burns all over the floor, white powder all over the desk, and the room reeked of a foul stench. It was so bad the maintenance crew actually had to lay down new carpet. Put together, it sounds like the room was used as a den of debauchery for Odom’s drug habit. Beyond that hotel, employees of several others across the country have reportedly come forward to say Odom has left rooms in similar conditions going all the way back to his final days with the Lakers.

Is that why the team first tried to trade him in the cancelled Chris Paul deal and later moved him to Dallas for almost nothing? Maybe. Maybe not. Sources close to the Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban are saying the team had no idea Odom was actually on drugs during the season, just an acute awareness that something was really going wrong in his life. The Lakers too may have had that same mentality and decided to honor his trade request because he needed a fresh start. Then again, they may have known exactly what was up and shipped the problem to Dallas.

During his time with the Mavericks, Odom allegedly spent some of his days smoking cocaine and Oxycontin. This summer, he’s apparently progressed (or degressed) all the way to using crack, which is, without question, one of the least classy drugs this side of glue. If even a fraction of all the stories are true, Lamar needs to get help immediately. The intervention the Kardashian family gave him last week was a big failure, but many of his friends have reportedly joined the cause now. Hopefully, they’ll be able to talk some sense into him before it’s too late. In all probability, he’s already ruined his marriage and his career, but there’s no reason why he needs to ruin his life. Besides, if he were to quit tomorrow and work out like a madman for the next twelve months, someone would probably take a chance on him.