The long-running ‘Untold’ documentary series, on Netflix, shines a light on the darker side of sports.
Especially when it comes to the NBA.
‘Operation Flagrant Foul’ blew the whistle on the Tim Donaghy referee betting scandal. Something that clearly still rolls up implications today. The ‘Malice At The Palace’ (Metta Sandiford-Artest is back for this one) detailed the darkest day in NBA history. Whilst the forthcoming ‘Jail Blazers’, coming April 14th, looks at the infamous Portland team of the early 2000s.
‘The Death & Life Of Lamar Odom’, on the other hand, sheds deeper shades on what some just think was Hollywood scandal primed for reality T.V. Keep up! This game has always been about hope amongst the darkness, like Untold’s ‘The Rise And Fall Of AND1’ will show you in these streets.
Let’s just hope now Lamar Odom is “Netflix famous”, saying he’s going to Vegas, the most successful streaming service gets it right. It was recently revealed that fellow former Laker Javaris Crittenton was not happy with how the documentary’s episode ‘Shooting Guards’, concerning his locker-room incident with former Washington Wizards teammate Gilbert Arenas, made him look.
Coming straight from Christ the King high-school in Queens, the New Yorker L.O. was ready for the NBA. A college star in Providence, Rhode Island, the future Laker, with Hall of Fame talent was actually drafted by the LA Clippers. The same team he’d conclude his NBA career with, before a stint with Saski Baskonia in the Euroleague.
The fourth overall pick, stood at almost seven-feet and could run the floor like Magic…that’s Earvin Johnson, to those who know Showtime. Think of him as a much smoother Kevin Garnett, albeit a little rougher around the edges. He made his mark in Miami, where his career really heated up. But he was born to be a Laker. And he was one of them, alongside great defender Caron Butler and warrior Brian Grant, who were brought to Hollywood for the trade that shipped Shaquille O’Neal’s massive talents to South Beach.
Years later, championships came. As one of Kobe Bryant’s greatest allies formed a classic purple and gold nucleus with Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza/Ron Artest, Andrew Bynum and Derek Fisher. That core came apart years later in a playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, a team that Odom would be traded to in turn, for practically nothing and the reaction of a bewildered Bean.
That’s when the depression and darkness came. But it had always been present for a man who lost way too much at a young age. His mother. His infant son. So much more we don’t know about. Life abused him and then he started using drugs. It was a problem in the NBA, even in his salad days, but it all came to a head at a brothel in Nevada.
Lamar Odom was found unconscious after suffering kidney failure, multiple heart attacks and 12 strokes. He was put on life support and people thought he wasn’t going to make it. But he did. And who was there by his side? Khloe Kardashian. His wife, who withdrew her divorce filing, to be there and support her husband. Helping him function and find happiness. Also making his medical decisions, with the help of Kobe, Khloe tells us in this documentary, when others didn’t have his best decisions at heart.
Khloe and Lamar had their own reality T.V. show, but their love and life was more real than all that. It was even revealed, at the time, that Odom spent most of his time in the brothel talking to his companions about how much he loved and missed his estranged wife.
Kardashian, Artest, and Lamar’s family and friends offer candid and compelling insights into the life and times of Lamar Odom. Just like the man himself. Even if other members of his purple and gold brotherhood are missing. Coach Phil Jackson gives us some moments of zen, too.
This is a critical time for dark documentaries about LA times on Netflix. Two weeks back we got ‘The Rise Of The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother Hillel’, with accounts from the Chili Peppers stars Anthony Kiedis and Flea that really warn us of the dangers of drugs.
And how about the pressure and pain of the press and paparazzi? The room that Lamar Odom overdosed in has been sickeningly recreated at a museum for the depraved. Showing you just how weird our world is getting. Especially in how we look at celebrity without humanity.
Odom is doing better now, with aspirations to coach and go back to school. He even says that the late, great Kobe Bryant visited him in a dream and told him that the afterlife isn’t what people make it out to be.
Lamar’s time to live…is now.
