Odom Came ‘Real Close’ to Walking Away from Basketball


After experiencing two tragic events in July, Lamar Odom told ESPN.com that he nearly asked the Lakers for a season away from basketball, but his wife Khloe Kardashian talked him out of it: “Left reeling by the July murder of his 24-year-old cousin and a fatal car accident days later that killed a teen pedestrian after the car he was riding in as a passenger collided with a motorcycle, Odom told ESPN.com that he had to be convinced by wife Khloe Kardashian to scrap his plans for a hiatus. ‘Real close,’ Odom said when asked Saturday how close he came to asking the Lakers for a season-long sabbatical. ‘My wife talked me out of it. Cause I was asking myself: Was I mentally prepared to play? If I didn’t play well, was I mentally prepared to help the team? I had thought, Maybe I need a year. Because of the lockout, I thought, Maybe somebody’s sending me a sign that I needed this time off. (But) when I told some of my friends and my family that I was thinking about steppin’ back for a minute, I think the reaction from the closest people to me kind of gave me the energy to get back at it.'”