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Former NBA star Lamar Odom, women escorted out of California strip club

By Alex Butler
Former NBA player Lamar Odom and his son Lamar Odom Jr. and daughter Destiny Odom attend Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards on March 11 at USC's Galen Center in Los Angeles. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
Former NBA player Lamar Odom and his son Lamar Odom Jr. and daughter Destiny Odom attend Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards on March 11 at USC's Galen Center in Los Angeles. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

May 28 (UPI) -- While Lamar Odom hasn't played in the NBA since the 2012 season, he has remained a topic in league circles due to his off-the-court struggles and Hollywood fame.

His latest fiasco involved being escorted out of a California strip club.

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TMZ Sports reported that Odom and two women arrived at Red Tie Gentleman's Club in Van Nuys at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday. According to the report, Odom and the two women attempted to cut the line for the club, before being confronted by security. They were escorted out of the club and later left the scene.

Onlookers can be heard in a video of the situation shouting, "he got us a ring."

The Los Angeles Clippers originally selected Odom as the No. 4 pick in the 1999 NBA Draft. He spent four seasons with the Clippers, before joining the Miami Heat in 2003. He went on to play seven seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers, winning championships in 2009 and 2010. He played for the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 and ended his career after the 2012 season with the Clippers.

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Odom, 37, was the 2010-2011 Sixth Man of the Year. He averaged 13.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game 14-year NBA career.

The University of Rhode Island product made more than $115 million in salary during his NBA tenure. His divorce with Khloe Kardashian was finalized in December.

Rashad McCants, another NBA player who dated Kardashian, recently told the Charlotte Observer that the union cost him millions of dollars. He said the relationship and situation with the Kardashian's reality TV show gave others an opportunity to "doubt his commitment to the NBA."

"Without that situation in play, I'm a $60-70 million player," McCants said. "Easily."

McCants made about $7.5 million during his four-year NBA career. Kardashian also dated Houston Rockets star James Harden.

Kardashian and Odom began dating in 2009. The 10.8 points per game he scored that season were a career low at that point. He rebounded with 14.4 points per game in the next season, but scored just 6.6 and 4.0 points per game in his final two seasons.

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Odom has had recurring issues with drugs in the last few years, including an incident where he was found in a coma and in critical condition in 2015 at the Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada. The brothel's owner said that Odom admitted to cocaine use before arriving there. He also drank alcohol and took as many as "10 supplements of "herbal Viagra," according to an ABC 7 New York report.

The New York Daily News reported that Odom spent $75,000 at the brothel during the weekend.

Odom was on kidney dialysis following the health scare.

In March, Odom denied doing drugs that night in an interview with US Weekly, but did say he was hiding his drug use at other times from Kardashian.

"I was hiding it for a while, but then I got frustrated and was like, '[expletive] it.' Around two years before we split up, I was in the man cave she had made for me and she caught me. She was disappointed. So was I. The sad thing about it is, I don't know if I was disappointed because I was actually doing the drug or because she caught me. She knew I was doing cocaine the whole time after that. It was my drug of choice. I'm not going to say she accepted it because that would be the wrong word. Tolerated would be a better word."

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Odom was first suspended in his second NBA season after testing positive for marijuana. He was suspended for eight games that December for another failed drug test. In 2006 he was robbed at gunpoint, following the death of his seven-month-old son.

The former basketball star found tragedy again in 2011. While attending his cousin's funeral, he was a passenger in a car that crashed into a motorcycle, killing a 15-year-old pedestrian.

During the 2011-2012 season, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban dismissed Odom from the team for his behavior, which included being late to meetings and practices, as well as his poor effort on the court. Odom also argued with Cuban before his departure from the franchise.

Multiple media outlets reported that he entered rehab in 2013. He was arrested that year and taken to the Van Nuys jail on suspicion of DUI. He lost his license for one year for refusing a drug test after the arrest.

Odom's mother died from cancer when he was 12-years-old. He also revealed that his estranged father was addicted to heroin.

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Earlier this month, Odom attended the Nickelodean Kids' Choice Awards with his son Lamar Odom Jr. and daughter Destiny Odom.

"I'm doing great," he said in an interview with E! News. "Just chilling, relaxing, just here with my kids."

Odom completed a 30-day rehab program in January.

"I think the perception on who I really am is wrong," Odom told The Doctors earlier this year.

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