The LA Times' Maek Heisler writes Lamar Odom was a model citizen for almost two seasons, until last spring when he was suspended, reportedly for smoking marijuana.
This was disturbing, but, in the greater scheme of things, not that bad ... until this incident, when he finally acknowledged "experimenting" with marijuana. Indications are this is one of your longer-running experiments.
The drug issue is part PR; he could be a falling-down drunk and the league wouldn't say a word. But even if his marijuana use is casual, there's an irresponsibility issue, which keeps coming back.
I don't want to be melodramatic because the odds are that Odom will have a long NBA career ... somewhere.
Of course, the odds on Donald T. Sterling extending him next summer for seven years at $75 million just went from very short to very long.
Critics (hello) are freer with Sterling's money than he is (who wouldn't be?) but in this case, he would be right. An unknown commodity can't be one of the two big tickets you can fit under your salary cap.
That's Odom, an unknown.