Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Sports
Sports

Lamar Odom to Resume Basketball Career in Spain

By | Published on February 18, 2014
CommentsComments (0) Add as a preferred source on Google i

nba_u_odom11_400x600

Lamar Odom, once a key part of the Los Angeles Lakers’ championship team of a few years ago, fell off the NBA radar after he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks. He was said to be despondent about not playing in LA. He became known for marrying reality TV star Khloe Kardashian and, later, for his troubled relationship with her and his reported issues with drugs.

Now Odom has planned a basketball comeback, reaching an agreement to play in Spain’s Laboral Kutxa. Odom could make his debut Saturday against Valladolid. Laboral Kutxa is ninth in the 18-team Spanish league and last in its Euroleague group.

The 34-year-old forward has a two-month contract, which includes an option to extend the deal for the remainder of the season, to fill a roster spot that opened up because of injury. These deals typically contain out clauses that allow established veterans such as Odom to return to the NBA if the opportunity arises. But sources told ESPN.com on Monday that Odom’s plan is to play out the rest of this season in Spain before determining whether to attempt an NBA comeback.

The Los Angeles Clippers, Odom’s last team, and Lakers both registered interest in signing Odom last summer until his private life became a near-daily subject for the tabloid media. Odom’s divorce from Kardashian was made official in December.

A free agent since completing the 2012-13 season with the Los Angeles Clippers, Odom appeared close to a return to the NBA in November. New Clippers coach Doc Rivers invited Odom to the team’s practice facility to gauge the state of his game and well-being following a tumultuous summer.

Rivers went so far as telling NBA.com’s Scott Howard-Cooper at the time that he was “hoping things work out” with re-signing Odom, who averaged a career-low 4.0 points and 5.9 rebounds in 88 NBA games last season.

But LA went in another direction and Odom now appears headed for Spain.

Subscribe To The ABS Newsletter — Get our stories in your inbox.

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Latest from Atlanta Black Star

Back to top