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Did Lamar Odom Really Get A Legit Offer To Play Basketball Again?

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 23:04 PST, Apr 21, 2016

At Kobe Bryant’s last game at the Staples Center, Lamar Odom said that he was not done with professional basketball and that he was going to play again. This would seem unlikely for any player at 35 who has not played in over two years, but even less likely for Lamar Odom, who six months ago didn’t know if he would walk again, or even live, after a nearly fatal overdose that caused multiple strokes. Odom is still allegedly in rehab to get back all of his speech and motor functions. But now a call from an old friend might at least provide the opportunity Lamar Odom has been seeking.

According to The Inquisitr, if Lamar Odom wants to even consider playing basketball again, he needs to clean up his act and not go back to old bad habits like heavy drinking and drug use. Odom’s estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, finally decided to pull the trigger on their divorce after she found out that Odom was drinking once again.

TMZ is reporting that Lamar Odom has been invited to join the legendary Drew League as a way to do the work to get back to the NBA. Baron Davis is in charge of the Drew League, which helps big NBA names like LeBron and Kobe stay in top basketball shape in the offseason, and if Lamar Odom is interested, they might have a place for him.

“I’m going to reach out to LO to see if he would want to play alongside me on my team since he is wanting to return.”

This would be the best offer that is going to come the way of Lamar Odom, and if he can commit to it, and really wants to play again, it sounds pretty good.

US Weekly says that Baron Davis presented Lamar Odom with a sincere offer to get back to professional basketball on Thursday afternoon. Davis, 37, seems to really want to help the fallen sports star get back on his feet and back into professional athletic shape. Fans will recall that, prior to the overdose of Lamar Odom in that brothel, he was not playing professional basketball, as no team wanted him.

But the Drew League, founded in 1973, might be just the structure that Odom needs to work on his conditioning and see what state his skills are in. The league consists of six teams and is considered recreational. The goal of the organization is to encourage “young men and women of South Central Los Angeles to learn life lessons through basketball.”

Kobe Bryant is part of the Drew League, as is Khloe Kardashian’s former boyfriend, James Harden.

In Touch Weekly says that, though Lamar Odom’s relationship with professional basketball might be precarious, if he is serious about playing again, he will take Baron Davis up on his Drew League offer. When Odom spoke about playing basketball again at Kobe Bryant’s retirement game, he told the press he still could pull off another turn in the NBA.

“I still got it.”

Odom reportedly has not touched a basketball in two years, as he left the NBA and then international basketball with a whimper. Lamar Odom became a free agent in 2013 after playing for the LA Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and LA Clippers. He briefly went to Spain to play for Laboral Kutxa Baskonia but returned to the US after being injured. It was then that Odom began spending his time partying and using drugs, which had caused him to be suspended in the past.

The New York Knicks were the last team to touch Odom in 2014, but they quickly let him go after hearing the usual buzz that he was, once again, out of control with substance abuse.

Do you think Lamar Odom really has any chance of playing professional basketball again?

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]

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