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Lamar Odom Returning To Basketball, To Play In China

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) – Former NBA star Lamar Odom is returning to the hardwood.

In an Instagram post Thursday, the 38-year-old wrote that he will be playing professional basketball in China.

Lamar Odom
NBA player Lamar Odom attends The Players' Tribune Hosts Players' Night Out 2017 at The Beverly Hills Hotel on July 11, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Leon Bennett/Getty Images for The Players' Tribune )

"My heart literally warms up now I can finally share with you all that I'm returning to play Basketball," Odom wrote. "I will be playing in China! God is good!"

Odom did not elaborate on where he will be playing or what his contract looks like.

He last played in the NBA in the 2012-13 season, when he appeared for the Los Angeles Clippers. He signed a contract with the New York Knicks in 2014, but was cut by the team before appearing in a game.

Odom had two NBA titles with the L.A. Lakers in 2010 and 2011. He won the NBA's sixth man award during that second championship run.

In his post, Odom thanks former NBA star Stephon Marbury, for "being my inspiration."

After leaving the NBA, Marbury had a long and successful career in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Odom has struggled with drug addiction for years. In 2015, he was found unconscious with cocaine in his system in a Nevada brothel. He was unconscious on life support in a Las Vegas hospital before making an incredible recovery.

He blamed cocaine for helping end his NBA career. Last year, he told US Weekly that "drugs killed my drive to want to train and be in shape."

He divorced reality TV star Khloe Kardashian in 2016. The two had been married for four years when Kardashian filed for divorce in 2013. She temporarily rescinded the filing after his cocaine overdose, but later re-filed it.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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