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

#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.