Lamar Odom Claims Near-Fatal OD Caused By Homicidal Brothel Proprietor

Former Los Angeles Lakers great Lamar Odom had a notoriously bumpy start to his post-NBA life, and now he's going on the record about all the unsavory details, to the best of his recollection.

In a TMZ video clip from a recent special interview (viewable on Hulu) with Odom that aired Monday, "Lamar Odom: Sex, Drugs & Kardashians," the 6'10" LA big man says that he did not knowingly ingest drugs the night of his fateful 2015 cocaine overdose at Pahrump, Nevada brothel Love Ranch South.

"I went there, I didn't do drugs that night. I want to know what drugs were in my system," Odom said. "There was only one night as far as I'm concerned. I got there, had the drink, and woke up three days later ripping tubes out of my neck, not knowing how I got there, unable to speak or walk." 

Odom claims that late Love Ranch owner Dennis Hof is to blame for the drugs found in his system. Hof, who owned seven legal brothels in the state, ran for the Nevada Assembly as a Republican in 2018, and was ultimately elected to serve -- even though he had died a month before the election.

Odom and swingman Caron Butler were the two best players LA received in its return package for superstar center Shaquille O'Neal when team president Mitch Kupchak elected to flip the three-time Finals MVP and prioritize a future focused around the scoring prowess of younger All-Star shooting guard Kobe Bryant.

From that deal, only Odom would remain a Laker long enough to contribute to the team's next championship-caliber roster. He, Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Derek Fisher were the four core teammates who remained constant on the club's three consecutive Finals runs, from 2008-2010. Trevor Ariza started at small forward in the 2008 and 2009 NBA Finals, but would  leave in free agency, only to be replaced by Ron Artest/Metta World Peace in the summer of 2009. Ariza returned to LA for the team's ill-fated 2021-22 season, and has not appeared on an NBA roster yet this year.

Odom, probably the third-most important player in those title-winning years, would stay with LA through the 2010-11 season, during which he was named the league's Sixth Man of the Year. He holds career averages of 13.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.9 blocks a night over the course of 14 NBA seasons.