Former basketball player Lamar Odom claims that he was given back the two NBA championship rings that he won with the LA Lakers and later pawned for $114,600 in 2016 to pay for medical bills after nearly dying from a drug overdose at a brothel in Nevada following his divorce from Khloe Kardashian.
The 42-year-old revealed the story on his On The LO podcast, and said he bumped into the pawnbroker at a Lakers game recently on October 20. The unidentified man told Odom he would get his rings back since he had worked hard to earn them in the first place.Â
‘I saw this guy who used to sit by us [at the Crypto Arena]. Let’s call him France for right now, my man France.’ Odom said. ‘So, he says ”you’re Lamar, you know uhm…I bought your rings.”’
‘I was like ”oh s**t” because at this point I’m still embarrassed. You know, at the time, I was really embarrassed because, you know, people thought I was put in a coma [in 2015] by using cocaine. What was really crazy was that I was really mad that night because I didn’t even have any cocaine to do.’
‘[…] So, he was like ”yeah, I have your rings” so you know after getting over that embarrassment, he [France] was like ”yo, just come pick them up”,’ the former Lakers, Clipper, Heat and Maverick added. ‘I pulled up on him and he gave me my s**t back…for nothin’.’Â
Former Los Angeles Lakers player, Lamar Odom, revealed he recently got his two NBA rings back in October after pawning them to pay for his recovery in 2015 after nearly dying from a drug overdose at a Nevada brothel and his divorce from Khloe Kardashian
Lamar Odom (left) and Ron Artest (right) look at their championship rings before the start of the Lakers opener on October 26, 2010
Odom, who married Khloe Kardashian in 2009, suffered from a near fatal drug overdose six-years-later, after his ex-wife had initially filed for divorce in 2013
Odom was found unconscious during a visit at the brothel in October 2015, the same month when his divorce from Khloe Kardashian was dismissed by request. Both parties had signed divorce papers in July 2015 of that year
Odom said he sold both of his rings six-years-ago to pay for his treatment after he was found unconscious from a nearly fatal drug overdose at the Love Ranch brothel, located in seven miles away from Carson City, Nevada, in 2015.Â
In 2020, the rings were eventually put up for auction and sold separately for $36,600 and $78,000. The two bands were also the last championships won by the late Kobe Bryant in 2009 and 2010, Odom revealed on his podcast.
The power forward, who could also operate as a small forward, played a crucial role in both of those successful years for the Lakers, coming off the bench to support star players, such as the ‘Black Mamba’ and Paul Gasol.
While the Purple and Gold couldn’t repeat their back-to-back success with a third championship in 2011, Odom went on to average 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists to collect the individual accolade of the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.
However, the Queens native’s career fell off a cliff after that. Odom went onto to play for the other team in L.A. (the Clippers), as well as the Dallas Mavericks, and saw his minutes on the court regress year-by-year.Â
Odom’s two championship rings were also the last titles won by the late Kobe Bryant, who died in 2020
‘Lammy’s’ struggles on and off the court coincided with his publicized marriage to Khloe Kardashian. The couple tied the knot in 2009 after they had only been dating for a month
Odom nearly died from a deadly mix of cocaine, alcohol, and a sexual stimulant, when he was found unconscious at the Love Ranch brothel in October 2015
The room where former NBA player Lamar Odom was found in a comatose before being taken to hospital in Las Vegas
Before and after announcing his retirement from professional basketball in 2014, Odom would often find himself in the news for the wrong reasons. In 2013, he was arrested for driving under the influence and was thought to have been abusing drugs.Â
At the time, he had also been married to Khloe Kardashian for five years, since 2009, and the couple’s publicized marriage was even part of a show called Khloe & Lamar in 2011 before it was cancelled a year later because it had ‘worn down’ the basketball star.
Two years later, in 2013, after months of speculated separation, Kardashian filed for divorce from Odom and for legal restoration of her last name.Â
The divorce was signed by both parties in July 2015 but did not receive final approval from a judge before being dismissed by request in October 2015, the same month that Odom was found in a comatose after taking a deadly mix of cocaine, alcohol, and a sexual stimulant.
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The ex-NBA player was hooked on life support at a Las Vegas hospital and only regained consciousness three days later. He was eventually transferred to a LA hospital and Kardashian decided to withdraw her request for divorce, citing that she wanted to support her estranged husband in making medical decisions during his recovery.
Odom has opened up about the struggles he encountered near the end of his professional basketball career, saying he ‘cheated death’ and called himself a ‘walking miracle’
Odom fully recuperated from the near fatal overdose three months later, in January 2016, before Kardashian filed for divorce again in May of that year. Their separation was finalized in December 2016.Â
In 2017, Odom opened up about his health struggles, his cocaine addiction, and his road to recovery. He called himself a ‘walking miracle’ who had ‘cheated death’, and acknowledged that his past drug use had made ‘the end of [his basketball] career come along a little faster’.
Since then, the two-time NBA champion has competed in a celebrity boxing match (in 2021 against rapper Aaron Carter) and was part of the Celebrity Big Brother cast earlier this year.
