Former NBA player and two-time NBA champion Lamar Odom spoke to students at Grayson County High Schools on the perils of drug abuse on Thursday afternoon.
Odom, 44, of Queens, New York, suffered multiple heart attacks and strokes after overdosing following his ingestion of a combination of cocaine, alcohol and a sexual stimulant in October 2015 in Las Vegas, Neveda.
He was in a coma for three days and on life support.
Odom has since recovered and shares his experiences and how his bad choices negatively impacted and nearly took his life.
The appearance was arranged by County Attorney for Grayson County, Jeremy Logsdon, who, in cooperation with Grayson County Schools, plans to make Odom’s appearance the first in an annual series.
The six feet, 10 inch tall Odom played one year of college basketball at the University of Rhode Island in 1998-1999 where he was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Atlantic 10. He was also selected MVP of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
He declared for the 1999 NBA Draft where he was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the fourth overall pic.
In 2003, he signed with the Miami Heat, where he played for the only one season despite being named to the NBA All-Rookie Team, before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
While with the Lakers from 2004 until 2011, Odom played alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal where the trio won back-to-back NBA titles (2009, 2010).
In 2011, Odom was selected as the Sixth Man of the Year, the first Laker to ever win the award.
Following his stint with the Lakers, Odom played for the Dallas Mavericks before ending his NBA career in the 2013 season with the team that drafted him, the Los Angeles Clippers. He played one year in Spain before retiring from the sport.
In addition to his basketball career, Odom ventured into the world of reality television, gaining further notoriety through his marriage to Khloé Kardashian and appearances on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and “Khloe & Lamar.”
Odom, in 2023, founded “Odom Recovery Group” and has built a network of addiction treatment facilities across California. Also in 2023, he founded “Odom Senior Care” to create affordable senior living communities.
Later in 2023, “Odom Senior Care” merged with “ZNest” to simplify the way families find senior living options.
Lamar also founded “Odom Dental Care,” which provides affordable dental care in Lomita, California.
Photo Gallery of Lamar Odom’s visit to Grayson Co. High School
By Ken Howlett, News Director and Sam Gormley, Digital Director
