Prior to the 2004-05 NBA season, the Los Angeles traded Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant.
With the Lakers rebuilding around Kobe Bryant, Odom was viewed as his Scottie Pippen but they missed the playoffs and were eliminated in the first round twice during their first three seasons together.
However, when Andrew Bynum was developing into an All-Star player, Odom became the team’s sixth man where they won two championships in three consecutive NBA Finals appearances.
Despite winning the 2011 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, Odom was traded to the Dallas Mavericks and he reflected on that particular time in his career, according to Arash Markazi of Los Angeles Times:
“That hurt,” Odom says. “I love that team. I love the people who own that team. That trade hurt me. I was never the same after that. I think back to where I was at in my life. My cousin had just been killed and the team knew about that and where I was at after the loss of my son.
“I’m not going to say that should have protected me but I was coming off a Sixth Man of the Year winning season. I couldn’t believe they would just trade me like that. It hurt.”
Following the failed Chris Paul trade, Odom reportedly requested a trade and landed with the Mavericks — who prevented them from three-peating. Despite playing for the defending champions, he eventually parted ways with the Mavericks and was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Following his second stint with the Clippers during the 2012-13 season, Odom has not played in an NBA game since. And after a near-death experience nearly four years ago, the 39-year-old is returning to basketball as an Enemies co-captain in the BIG3.