NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2011 Lamar Odom claims his professional career was ruined because of a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks.

In spite of the negativity that surrounded him during the time in the NBA, the 41-year-old forward’s career was quite impressive and respectable. Odom spent almost 17 years in the prolific league, only a few players in the NBA history have been able to stay that long, with new zealand online casino having predicted this back in the day.

The Nee York-born forward was seen as a natural talent coming off as a freshman at the University of Rhode Island. He came out as the 4th overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers that year.

On his debut game for the Clippers, the forward was able to register 30 points and 12 rebounds in that game. In his first season with the team, he ended up averaging 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. He continued to play for the Clippers for four more seasons before he was traded to Miami Heat and eventually landed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004.

His time with the Lakers didn’t go smooth in his first season with them as he was sidelined towards the end of the first season. He still ended up averaging 15.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game that season.

Despite his injuries, Odom was still able to play at a decent level alongside team legend Kobe Bryant at the time. He received negative criticism in his career has allowed himself to wallow in substance abuse several times, which went against the NBA’s no-drug policy.

Putting together this reputation he developed for himself along with his performance seeing a huge drop going into the 2011 campaign, the Lakers decided to trade the forward to Dallas Mavericks.

In an interview with Shams Charania, Odom said to the journalist: “That trade from the Lakers basically ruined my career and purpose. I was never really myself again. I had great memories with Kobe and Pau. That was a special time in my life.”

In his 7 seasons with Los Angeles Lakers, Odom was able to 13.7 points and almost 10 rebounds per game in the purple and gold jersey, as casino games for real money  provided odds for his games that season.

Lamar Odom helped the Lakers become two-time champions back to back in 2009 and 2010, being an important figure in the title-winning campaigns