Lamar Odom’s story is well known.
A one-time Sixth Man of the Year and fan favorite in multiple destinations, Odom’s basketball career is nothing to sneeze at.
But Odom is better known for his situation off the court. A near-death experience a few summers ago saw the big man overdose and fall into a coma. For days, it appeared as though Odom may have given his life away to drugs.
Miraculously, Odom survived the scare and is seemingly in a better place. Still, the experience served as a lesson of Odom’s past to many who were not aware of his addiction or the struggles he faced throughout his life.
But while everyone was exposed to the new information, it was always through third-party sources. Until now.
On Thursday, the two-time NBA champion penned a wonderfully emotional essay for the Players’ Tribune in which he shared his life story in a brutally honest manner. From the deaths of loved ones to his regrets about how he handled marriage with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian and of course the night in Las Vegas which nearly led to his death, Odom does a tremendous job of retelling his goosebumps-inducing story.
The whole piece is worth your time and you should read it (note that there is NSFW language) but here is one particular passage about the former Clippers, Heat, and Lakers star’s life:
I’m sober now. But it’s an everyday struggle. I have an addiction. I’ll always have an addiction. It never goes away. I mean, I want to get high right now. But I know that I can’t if I want to be here for my children.
You know, it’s crazy … when I was in the hospital, and I couldn’t even walk, all these people came to see me that I hadn’t seen in a minute. All these old teammates came. Kobe came. I got texts from all these guys, like, “Damn dog, the news was saying you were dead. I’m happy you’re still here.”
It kind of reminded me of who I was, and what I’ve meant to some people.
I shook hands with death. But you know what? Ain’t no coming back from that. Even though my funeral would probably be a good funeral, and there’d probably be a lot of people who hadn’t seen each other in a long time. But it ain’t time for that yet.
We are all exceptionally happy to hear of LO’s sobriety and hope he can continue this path to better health.
