The 75 greatest NBA players of the 2000s, ranked

69) Lamar Odom

Former NBA player Lamar Odom was selected fourth overall in the 1999 NBA draft, and while he never made an all-star team, he was one of the better players of the decade. He spent the first four years of the 2000s with the Los Angeles Clippers and quickly established himself as a distinctive player.

At 6'10, he could shoot, rebound, and create off the dribble, and while that is more common now, it wasn't in the early 2000s. He later signed with the Miami Heat and had the best season of his career, averaging 17.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists. That season made him a valuable commodity, and the Heat were able to turn him, Brian Grant, and Caron Butler into Shaquille O'Neal and win a championship two years later.

Things worked out for Odom too. He played the final five seasons of the decade with the Lakers, seven overall, and later became a key member of their 2008 Finals team and consecutive championship teams in 2009 and 2010. However, only  one championship counts towards these rankings. On the whole, Odom averaged 15.1 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 665 games and that well-rounded play is hard to ignore.