The 'High' Flyers: 5 NBA careers destroyed by drugs & alcohol

"When it's played the way it's supposed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams." - John Edgar Wideman

At the highest level, Basketball is a lot about being higher than others. The players stand higher than most people, jump higher, run at a higher speed, burn calories at a higher rate, score with higher efficiency, defend at a higher intensity and earn paychecks which are way, way higher than almost everyone else.

Sports analysts and fans alike love to talk about the players who have reached the highest of the highs in their career and where they'll end up on the Mt. Rushmore of NBA players. Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O' Neal, Kobe Bryant; these are some of the names that come up when we talk about the players with the highest career arc.

However, there's another group of NBA players. These are the players who decided that reaching lofty career highs was less important than getting high. These five 'high' flyers had potential to have great careers but they ended up smoking or drinking it. Let's roll our, ahem, sleeves and check them out.

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#5 Ty Lawson

Ty Lawson during his time with the Denver Nuggets

In 2009, during his junior season as a North Carolina Tar Heels player, Ty Lawson won the NCAA championship and the Bob Cousy Award (given to the best point guard of the season). During the Championship game, he also set a record with 8 steals against Michigan State.

He was drafted 18th overall by the Denver Nuggets in the the 2009 draft and served as a backup for Chauncey Billups for a year and a half. Once Billups was traded to the New York Knicks, Lawson really came into his own. On 9 April 2011, he made his first ten 3-point shots in the game and finished with a career-high 37 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

In the 2012-13 season, Lawson averaged 21.3 points and 8.0 assists and led the Nuggets to the playoffs (where they lost to the Golden State Warriors). For the 2013-14 season, he led the team in points, assists and steals. In the 2014-15 season, the Nuggets only had a 30-52 record but Lawson had a great season with a career-high 9.6 assists per game.

He was traded to the Houston Rockets in the next season and then the downfall began. He was suspended for a total of five games by the NBA for separate instances of driving under influence of alcohol. He was waived by the Rockets in a buyout agreement. An year ago, he had also been sentenced to a month at a residential rehabilitation center. He has been arrested three times for driving under influence (DUI).

A 29-year-old Ty Lawson was soon out of the NBA after brief stints with the Indiana Pacers and the Sacramento Kings. He now plays for the Shandong Golden Stars of the Chinese Basketball Association.

#4 O.J. Mayo

Mayo during his time with the Grizzlies

O.J. Mayo was drafted third overall in the 2008 NBA draft (ahead of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Danilo Galinari, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez and DeAndre Jordan). Scouts must have seen something in him to draft him above players like that.

To be honest, he did have a stellar rookie season for the Memphis Grizzlies. He averaged 18.5 points on 43.8% shooting for the season, scoring 30 or more on seven different occasions. He was runner-up to Derrick Rose for the Rookie of the Year award. He had a solid sophomore season as well, averaging 17.5 points on 45.8% shooting.

The next season is when his drug troubles began. He tested positive for the steroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and was suspended by the NBA for 10 games. At the end of the season the Grizzlies chose to not re-sign Mayo and he signed with the Dallas Mavericks. He had a respectable season with the Mavericks, averaging 15.3 points on a team-high 35.5 minutes per game.

For the 2013-2014 season, he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks but missed many games because of his conditioning, appearing in a career-low 52 games. His career trundled along until 1 July 2016 when the NBA banned him for using "amphetamine and its analogs (including, but not limited to methamphetamine and MDMA), cocaine, LSD, opiates (heroin, codeine and morphine), and PCP." He is eligible for reinstatement but it seems unlikely that any NBA team would take a chance on a player who did drugs this often.

#3 Shawn Kemp

Shawn Kemp with the Sonics

The Reign Man Shawn Kemp dazzled the NBA with his high flying dunks and legendary post-dunk celebrations. His alley-oop connection with Gary Payton is the stuff of legends (just ask Kevin Garnett). The six-time All-Star averaged 19.6 points and 11.4 rebounds for the Seattle Superonics during the 1995-96 season and reached the NBA Finals (losing to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls). For some time, sky was the limit for Kemp.

In 1997, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and started having difficulties with his weight. During the shortened NBA season of 1998-99, he weighed 280 pounds when he arrived at the training camp. Miraculously, despite failing to lose weight, he managed to score 20.5 points and grab 9.2 rebounds for the season.

At the end of the 1999-2000 season, the Cavs traded him to the Portland Trailblazers and his drug problems really started to surface. His first season with the Blazers ended prematurely as he had to enter a drug rehabilitation center. Because of his cocaine and alcohol abuse, his production also dipped from 17.5 points per game to just 6.5.

In the end, he never really managed to salvage his career and one of the most electric dunkers of all time, spent his last few NBA years attempting one comeback after another.

#2 Lamar Odom

Odom during his time with the Lakers

In the 1999 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Clippers selected Lamar Odom out of Rhode Island with their fourth overall pick. He had a stellar rookie year, averaging 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Consequently, he was named to the All-Rookie First Team.

In March 2001, the NBA suspended him for five games because of marijuana usage. Next season, he was suspended again for the same reason. He only appeared in 49 games for the 2002-03 season and signed with the Miami Heat at the end. He played well for the Heat, averaging 17.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game onto the Eastern Conference Semifinals, where they lost to the top seed Indiana Pacers.

At the end of the season, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers where he spent seven seasons and won two NBA championships. Throughout his Lakers tenure, he was a versatile forward whose stats hovered around 14 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists per game. In 2011, he was named the Sixth Man of the Year and just around that time, his personal life started going into disarray.

Odom's close cousin was murdered and he was a passenger in the SUV that crushed a teenage cyclist to death. He considered taking a break from basketball to recover from it, but eventually made a return to the NBA. He only averaged around 20 minutes for the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers.

In 2013, he was arrested for a DUI violation and his marriage with socialite Khloe Kardashian hit a rough patch soon after that. In 2015, Lamar Odom was found lying unconscious after substance abuse at a brothel in Nevada. He was in a coma and had to be placed on life support till he regained consciousness after a few days. This marked the end of any hope he had of reviving his NBA career.

#1 David Thompson

David Thompson inducts Michael Jordan into the Basketball Hall of Fame

The picture above says a lot about David Thompson. He was Michael Jordan's role model and Jordan specifically asked David Thompson to induct him into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

In the 1975 draft, David Thompson was selected first overall by both the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA and the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association (ABA). He eventually signed with the Denver Nuggets in the ABA.

He was the finalist along with Julius Erving for the first ever Slam-Dunk Competition, held during the 1976 ABA All-Star Game. After the NBA-ABA merger, Thompson continued to be a dominant player in the league and made four All-Star teams. He also made the All-NBA First Team on two occasions. He is also one of the six players to have scored more than 70 points in a game.

At the end of the 1978 season, Thompson signed a (then) richest contract in NBA history with the Nuggets, paying him $4 million over five years. However, from that point on he succumbed to a world of alcohol and drug usage.

The final blow came on a fateful night at the notorious New York City club, Studio 54, where he was pushed down a staircase under the influence of drugs and alcohol. He severely injured his knee in the fall and could never really recover. His own words about the incident sum up his career and this post perfectly: "I had the ability to be one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game and I blew it."