Lamar Odom Car Accident: Inconsistency on the Court a Result of Tragedy off It?

Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom's professional career has been defined by his enormous potential and his inability to consistently get his game to match his talent.

The fact that Odom is 6'10", but has the ability to play like a seven-footer and is often the most skilled ball-handler on the court opens the door to limitless possibilities. But Odom has never been able to barge through those doors.

Sure the Lakers forward has dazzled us with his triple-doubles, and the vision of Odom leading the fast break can be breathtaking, but those moments have been few and far between.

Odom won the 2011 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award last season, which is an admirable accomplishment, but last season was arguably the best season of his 13-year career.

There are few players who are as versatile as Odom, and the broad scope of his abilities may make him the NBA's most unique talent, but he is hardly regarded as one of the league's great players.

I have always assumed that it was something in Odom's head that prevented him from making the leap to consistent NBA superstar, and I may have been partly right considering all the different emotions that must course through Odom's brain.

Earlier in the week the New York Post reported that Odom was involved in a serious car accident, and more recently it was announced that a young man had died as a result of injuries sustained in that accident.

Odom was not driving the vehicle that struck and killed the victim, but Yahoo! Sports reported that he was inconsolable after the incident, and based on the turmoil he's faced off the hardwood, it's not hard to understand why.

Not long ago on his reality show Khloe and Lamar, Odom said that his mostly absent father was a heroin addict. He lost his mother while he was a young child, the grandmother who raised him is also deceased and in 2006 Odom lost his son Jayden to sudden infant death syndrome.

My own mother recently passed and the pain from that loss is still unbearable, but I could never imagine losing one of my children and still finding the fortitude to soldier on.

It's easy to get lost and lose perspective when you open up your laptop or sit down on the couch to watch a game, but the harsh realities of life have a way of snapping you back to the present.

Basketball is just a game, and there is nothing that happens on the court that can compare to the pain of losing a loved one.

Most NBA players who were born out of poverty have their own hard-luck stories to tell, but there are none that have been as compelling as Odom's, and the fact that he is able to perform at a high level on the basketball court in the face of so much tragedy is a success story all its own.

Odom also has a reputation as one of the more likable and affable players in the NBA, and on the court, he always manages to crack a smile, regardless of the circumstances.

The fact that Odom is even able to concentrate on basketball at all is impressive, and his ability to show strength and resolve with the specter of tragedy constantly looming over his head is a lesson we all could benefit from.

Odom may never be able to escape his reputation as an inconsistent basketball player, but he has handled the consistent tragedy in his life off the court with the type of grace and class we should all aspire to.