Lamar Odom Returns To Professional Basketball, Signs Two-Month Deal With Laboral Kutxa
Good news for Lamar Odom! After months of free agency, the former Los Angeles Clipper has signed with Laboral Kutxa for a Spain-based comeback.
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, it was announced by E! News that Odom, 34, signed a two-month contract with Spain's Laboral Kutxa to play on their team for the remainder of the 2013-2014 season, with an option to sign on for another year when the two months are up.
"We're very happy to have signed a very important player who has had a long and fruitful career in the NBA," Laboral Kutxa president, Josean Querejeta, said in a statement. "We've worked very hard over the last couple of days to make this happen. We felt we needed a boost and had to break the collective cloud that has been hanging over us over the last while so we could get back to winning."
Currently, Laboral Kutxa is in ninth place among the 18-team Spanish league, and last in the Euroleague group.
While an official start date hasn't yet been given, Odom could begin playing with Laboral Kutxa as early as this Saturday, during their game against Valladolid.
After playing college basketball for the Rhode Island Rams, Odom was drafted in 1999 in the first round with the fourth overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers. After four seasons with the Clippers, he signed with the Heat and played for one season. From there, he went on to play seven seasons with the Lakers before being traded to Dallas in 2011, and back to the Clippers in 2012.
On Aug. 30, 2013, Odom was arrested on charges of DUI, which he eventually plead no contest to, accepting a sentence of three years probation and three months of alcohol abuse treatment.
A few months later, on Dec. 13, 2013, his wife of four years, Khloé Kardashian, filed for divorce.