Lamar Odom’s lone season with the Dallas Mavericks has long been remembered as the most turbulent stretch of his NBA career. Now, years later, the two-time champion is opening up about just how close that chapter came to boiling over into something far worse.
Speaking on the Cousins podcast with Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, Odom revisited a heated locker room confrontation with former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during the 2011- 12 season, admitting he nearly lost control after Cuban kicked him in the shin at halftime of a game in Memphis.
Lamar Odom: “I’m telling Mark Cuban this whole story. Like, yo, my son died in 2006. I’m telling him, I’m letting him know where I’m at, you feel me? I said, yo, I wanted to quit in 2006. Really, that was a wrap for me then, mentally. That s**t was hard to come back from. Your son dying, bro?”
“I’m like, yo, Mark, man, I don’t got nothing against y’all team, even though we hate y’all. Why you want me on your team? All I like about Dirk is going at him. I don’t really want to even play for y’all. Let alone, I’m getting traded from the Lakers. I got a reality show. I’m king here. I’m always gonna be all right, you know? But I’m fried.”
“Man, I’m having a bad game in Memphis, and I know I’m having a bad game. You been playing ball a long time, you know when your shit is off. I can’t make layups. I can’t do nothing right.”
Vince Carter: “Hold up, I want to stop right there before you go any further. So during this point, leading up to the game, he was already like, bro, I ain’t got it. I’m gonna give you what I got, but I ain’t got it. So you’re playing in the game, and you can hear Rick from the sideline. You know Rick, he gonna tell you like it is, which I appreciate. I love playing for Rick. It got to the point where he pulled him out, and he just sat there.”
Lamar Odom: “Man, we in the f**king locker room, bro. I’m gonna keep it real with you. I love people too, right? We all Black men before anything. Now first, this white man got it in his heart that to get his point across, he needs to kick me in my shin. Literally.”
“You know, Mark Cuban, time has passed. I forgive you. But if it wasn’t for your cousin sitting right next to you, I was gonna put him through the locker and wash the lockers with him. Yo, I was gonna wash the locker room with him, bro.”
“If it wasn’t for him putting his hand on me, Mark Cuban, all due respect, you a great b***h, man. Holy Spirit. I love you, b***h. Hopefully you can help me buy some rehabs, Mark Cuban, because I’m trying to help people. But I don’t want to disrespect the powerful. I understand where I’m at in life. I don’t want to make Mark Cuban an enemy, you know what I’m saying?”
“But Mark Cuban, I was gonna wash you. The NBA was gonna hate me for f**king their best owner up.”
Vince Carter: “Like literally, as soon as we got into the locker room, Cube walks in, trying to get his attention. Lamar didn’t want to hear it because he was already hot. He was facing this way. I’m sitting here. Everybody over there with Coach Carlisle. Cube comes through, standing there first, then getting closer and closer, trying to get his attention. Like, hey. Yo. You hear me? It was like that.”
Lamar Odom: “I said, hold up. Did this n***a just nudge me with his foot?”
Odom explained that his struggles in Dallas were not simply about basketball. He had already endured deep personal trauma, including the death of his infant son in 2006, something he says mentally changed him forever.
Odom admitted he never truly wanted to be in Dallas after being traded from the Los Angeles Lakers, where he had won championships and built a life that extended beyond basketball.
His production reflected that internal conflict. After averaging 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while winning Sixth Man of the Year in 2011, Odom’s numbers plummeted in Dallas to career lows of 6.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting just 35.2% from the field.
Looking back, Odom acknowledged that restraint likely saved him from permanent damage to his legacy. The Mavericks eventually placed him on the inactive list for the remainder of the season, effectively ending his time in Dallas. He would play one more NBA season before his career unraveled further amid personal battles.
The confrontation remains one of the most revealing moments of Odom’s career, illustrating how unresolved trauma, declining performance, and public pressure collided in a single locker room. In his own words, he was mentally exhausted long before that shin kick ever happened.
