The documentary doesn't start with the overdose. It starts before it, which is the only way any of this makes sense.

Lamar Odom’s upbringing was tough, as he was surrounded by people who made it difficult for him to live. His mother passed away when he was just 12. His father was in and out in the way that addiction makes parents in and out, present enough to be felt, absent enough to leave damage. Basketball for Lamar was just the thing he was good enough at to matter, good enough at to get somewhere else, and that turned out to be everything.

The NBA years had everything they were supposed to have. Two championships. The kind of talent that made teammates and coaches reach for words they don't usually use about basketball players. Then the marriage with Khloé Kardashian, which placed his life inside a visibility that operates by completely different rules than professional sport, rules he was never entirely comfortable with and never entirely escaped.