Lamar Odom has certainly had an up-and-down career both on and off the court.

In an excerpt from his upcoming autobiography where the two-time NBA champion talks about his life and career, Odom details a time in which Mavericks owner Mark Cuban kicked him in the shin during a game while Odom was playing for Dallas.  

Cuban extended his right foot and kicked my shin. “Come on, motherf—-!” he shouted.

I was stunned. This wasn’t a tap. I felt it. That was the last straw. It was painfully clear he did not respect me as a man. I felt the adrenaline rush through my body. In an instant I was transported back to Linden Boulevard, where the slightest act of disrespect could be fatal. As I sprang up, Vince Carter, who was sitting next to me, grabbed my arm tightly and leaned in.

“LO, chill out,” Vince calmly said. “Don’t do it. It’s not worth it.”

Odom didn’t reveal what particular game this occurred in, but is very adamant that the situation took place.

In 2012, ESPN’s Tim McMahon and Marc Stein reported that Cuban got into a “heated halftime confrontation” with Odom and Cuban questioned whether he was committed to playing basketball at the highest level.

“Well, yeah,” Cuban said when asked about the situation. “Just his response to it. Everybody goes through ups and downs. Every player does. We tried to put him in a position to succeed. You guys saw it, saw what we did. It didn’t work.

“And I just asked him, does he want to go for it or not? Is he in or is he out? I think he thought we were playing poker. I just didn’t get a commitment. And that was the end.”

Odom spent the 2011-12 season with the Mavericks after being traded from the Los Angeles Lakers, and it was one of the worst of his professional career. The forward averaged just 6.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting just 35.2 percent from the field in 50 games.

In March 2012, the Mavericks assigned Odom to the D-League (now G League), but he never actually reported. Odom ended up going back to the Mavericks before parting ways with the franchise that April.

Odom finished up his NBA career with the Los Angeles Clippers the following season and it didn’t go any better. He averaged just 4.0 points and shot just 39.9 percent from the floor. 

Most recently, Odom attempted to play in Ice Cube’s Big3, but was deactivated for the remainder of the 2019 season after not being in great playing shape.