Lamar Odom Says Trade from Lakers 'Basically Ended My Career and Purpose'

The Los Angeles Lakers traded Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 in a move that apparently still bothers him today. 

"That trade from the Lakers basically ended my career and purpose," Odom told Shams Charania of The Vertical in a story published Monday. "I was never really myself ever again. Being in L.A., the structure, the people I knew, it hurt leaving. I had great memories with the Lakers, with Kobe and Pau. That was a special time in my life."

Odom continued, pointing out his merits before the trade: "I got traded the season after we lost to Dallas in the playoffs, and I had won Sixth Man of the Year for the team. To trade me after winning Sixth Man of the Year … what else do I got to do? Why? I think about it all the time, about how much I had left in the tank."

Odom entered the league in 1999 when the Los Angeles Clippers selected him with the No. 4 overall pick in the draft. He played there for the first four seasons of his career and then went to the Miami Heat in 2003-04 before joining the Lakers for seven seasons of double-digit scoring.

It was the longest-tenured stop for Odom among the four NBA teams he played with, and he won two championships and a Sixth Man of the Year award before the trade which he said essentially ended his career.

He played 50 games for the Mavericks in 2011-12 and rejoined the Clippers in 2012-13 before joining the Euroleague.

Charania pointed out Odom had a "life-threatening drug overdose in a Las Vegas brothel in October 2015, when he suffered multiple strokes, kidney failure and was in a coma and on life support."

While Odom still regrets the trade which sent him away from the Lakers, Charania reported there are plans in the works for him to sign a contract with the team again so he can officially retire with the Lakers.