LAS VEGAS – Former NBA star Lamar Odom is expected to take a plea deal in a Las Vegas drunk driving case, according to his lawyer.
Odom, 46, was arrested on Jan. 17 and later charged with driving under the influence, speeding and failure to maintain lane. He pleaded not guilty in March.
Odom plans to file a no-contest plea that would reduce his original DUI charge to a reckless driving charge, according to his lawyer Michael Becker. By filing a no contest plea, Odom will accept terms from the Clark County District Attorney’s Office without admitting guilt.
He was scheduled to appear in a Las Vegas court Tuesday, but the hearing was continued for a guilty plea later this month. According to Becker, he is not expected to attend in person.
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to the arrest report, on Jan. 17, a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper observed Odom speeding on a Las Vegas highway and changing lanes without a turn signal. When Odom stopped, he allegedly had bloodshot eyes and smelled like marijuana, the arrest report states.
Odom denied drinking alcohol and told the officer the passenger had smoked marijuana, according to the report. The trooper found field sobriety tests “unsatisfactory,” saying Odom was unable to touch the tip of his nose with his finger and lost his balance.
Odom won championships in 2009 and 2010 with the Los Angeles Lakers. During his 14-year NBA career, he also played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks.
His marriage to reality TV star Khloe Kardashian in 2013 became tabloid fodder, and the couple’s wedding was featured on Keeping Up with the Kardashians. A few months later they divorced. That same year, Odom was arrested for drunk driving in Los Angeles. He later pleaded no contest and received three years probation.
In 2015, Odom made headlines after contracting the disease while staying at a legal brothel in Nevada called Love Ranch. In the arrest report, Odom allegedly told the trooper that he had had 12 strokes and six heart attacks and that he was “poisoned in a brothel in Pahrump.”