Lamar Odom is once again opening up about the origins of his long battle with addiction, and this time he pinpointed exactly where it began. Appearing on the Cousins podcast with Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, the two-time NBA champion revealed that his struggles with substance abuse started when he was just 14 years old, not long after the devastating loss of his mother.
Tracy McGrady: “I know we’re jumping into something different and going into a deep discussion, but where do you think you went off the rails with your decision-making?”
Lamar Odom: “Pot.”
Tracy McGrady: “But a lot of people smoke pot though.”
Lamar Odom: “But a lot of people don’t have addiction genetically passed down to them. My father was a heroin addict. If you start with pot and it doesn’t get you high anymore, you’re like, ‘Maybe I’ll try cocaine.”
Vince Carter: “What age did you start smoking?”
Lamar Odom: “Like 14 or 15. Then trauma too. My mom died when I was 12 years old. So when your mom dies and you’re in New York City, it’s tough. Good thing I was protected by my neighborhood. They’d lived in the same neighborhood since 1957, so I don’t think anybody would let me turn to drugs or start shooting a gun.”
“But you’re going to explore when you don’t have your mom anymore. Part of me was like, forget it, and then part of me was like, I’ve got to really get it done and do it for everybody.”
That internal conflict defined much of Odom’s life. On one hand, he was a basketball prodigy with immense expectations. On the other hand, he was a grieving teenager navigating one of the hardest environments imaginable without his biggest source of stability.
As his career progressed, the addiction escalated. Odom admitted that cocaine became a part of his life, especially during the offseason. He previously stated that he avoided using during the NBA season due to league drug testing, but summers were a different story. Despite that battle, Odom still built an impressive 14-year NBA career, winning two championships and earning Sixth Man of the Year honors with the Los Angeles Lakers. Yet he believes addiction cost him a place among the game’s all-time greats.
Odom’s story is not just about basketball. It is about grief, genetics, environment, and coping mechanisms. Losing his mother at such a formative age left a void that he tried to fill in destructive ways. The combination of inherited vulnerability and unresolved trauma proved powerful.
Now, years removed from his near-fatal overdose in 2015, Odom speaks with clarity rather than denial. He does not blame the league, his teammates, or the spotlight. Odom traces it back to a 14-year-old kid in New York, grieving and experimenting.
