Halfway through October and the NBA world isn’t as focused as they’d normally be on the upcoming regular season. No, it’s the fate of — someone former teammate, Chris Paul, called “our NBA brother” — Lamar Odom. Odom is fighting for his life in a Nevada hospital after being found unconscious Tuesday afternoon, and the rest of the Association is still coming to grips with the news.
There are all manner of rumors floating around, including more than a few false accounts Odom has passed away, but multiple sources have reported that drugs were found in his system and he’s at risk for brain damage.
Regardless of what the public infers from the drug reports, the love Odom’s seeing around the NBA is a testament to just how much joy he brought to teammates, opponents, coaches, reporters and anyone else who was lucky enough to interact with the candy-loving hybrid forward. Odom was an early archetype for the positionless Association we see today, but he was also just a nice guy; he was a friend to many in the NBA’s orbit despite demons that should have impinged — or simply destroyed — his athletic career a lot more than they actually did.
While some might see it differently, the various psychological monsters Odom has been forced to deal with during his heartbreaking 35 — and counting — years would have been too much for the vast majority of us to bear.
Odom lost his mother when he was just 12 years old, then the grandmother who raised him 12 years later. In 2006, Odom’s 6-month-old son, Jayden, died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Five years later, Odom’s cousin — who he was very close with — was gunned down in New York City. While he was attending his cousin’s funeral, the car he was traveling in crashed and killed a 15-year-old pedestrian.
The death of even one family member or loved one would be enough to send the majority of us off the deep end. But Odom kept suiting up despite an off-court life that routinely visited him with horror. How could any of us have stayed positive or level-headed if that sort of loss and ensuing grief kept happening?
But the outpouring of love for Odom is a referendum on how much he meant to so many people despite all of the tragedy he’s experienced in his life.
In China, as part of the NBA’s Global Games, Chris Paul offered his own support for Odom, just like so many of his NBA brethren. Paul last played with Lamar in 2013, but his tender reaction to the news while still halfway around the world is raw and speaks to a deeper sorrow.
That’s the sort of heartfelt sentiment Odom inspired in his peers, and it’s why this whole seedy ordeal has so viscerally affected the NBA community less than two weeks before the start of the season.
