Lamar Odom had so much potential. He enjoyed a lot of success, but his career is now pretty much over. When it comes to his personal life, he’s seen his fair share of tragedy. It seems like everyone who Lamar loves either dies or leaves. We all know about his failed marriage to Khloe Kardashian, but there’s so much we just don’t know about the former basketball pro. We’re trying to correct that – here are 10 things you can say you now know about Lamar!
10. So Much Potential
Lamar was dubbed the next Magic Johnson before he had even finished high school.
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9. Olympic Athlete
In 2004, Lamar played in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece for the United States’ national team.
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8. Tragedy Strikes
Two of the basketball pro’s good friends, Jamie Sangouthai and Bobby Heyward, died within less than a week of each this past June. A flesh eating disease from his intravenous drug use is what caused Sangouthai’s death while Heyward died of a drug overdose.
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7. Candy Lover
The former L.A. Laker has quite the sweet tooth. He loves candy so much that he eats it for breakfast.
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6. Witness to a Horrible Accident
In 2011, on his way to Queens, the basketball pro’s chauffeur-driven car hit a motorbike, which then hit and killed 15-year-old Awsaf Alvi Islam who was riding a bike.
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5. A Common Fear
Lamar might have some nice pearly whites, but he is deathly afraid of going to the dentist.
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4. A Savvy Investment
Lamar has his own music and film production company, Rich Soil Entertainment.
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3. Caught for Drug Use
The former NBA pro has admitted to drug use in the past. In 2001, he violated NBA drug policies twice in eight months. “I just couldn’t control myself in L.A. … the lifestyle that I was living and the things I had access to,” he said in 2003.
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2. A Challenging Upbringing
Lamar didn’t have the easiest upbringing – his father was a heroin addict and his mother died of colon cancer when he was 12 years old, so his grandmother, Mildred, raised him.
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1. Tragedy Strikes at Home
Lamar has two children, Destiny and Lamar Jr. with his ex Liza Morales. They had a third child Jayden, but he died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at six and a half months while sleeping in his crib.