Reality bites for Lamar Odom

Playing badly, a sorry disciplinary record, arguing with team-mates and getting drunk have all been reasons why clubs have ditched players but never for being married to the wrong girl - until now.

Basketball star Lamar Odom has been dumped by the Dallas Mavericks because of the drama surrounding his wife Khloe Kardashian.

Most marriages come with their difficulties, but Odom’s also comes with its own reality TV show. And it’s because of that that he’s been let go by the reigning NBA champions.

Sources say the constant scrutiny of Odom’s personal life proved to be an obstacle when trying to play professional sport.

“When he wasn’t playing well, it meant he looked bad,” an insider said. “And when you have a show about your life, when you are off-court, you have to deal with the producers asking all those questions. “He had a horrible summer, but he was more concerned about the cameras and how he looked.”

Sources have also revealed that bosses at the Mavericks were beginning to get fed up with his negative behaviour.

“They grew tired of his BS and kicked him to the curb,” it was revealed. “[The team] didn’t need someone pouting like a little kid.” However, Odom insisted in a statement that leaving the team was a mutual decision, the 32-year-old star even wishing his former team the

best of luck moving forward.

“I’m sorry that things didn’t work out better for both of us,” he said.

“But I wish the Mavs’ organisation, my team-mates and Dallas fans nothing but continued success in the defence of their championship.”

All this obviously comes as bad news to Odom, who according to Rob Kardashian, Khloe’s brother, in series three of ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ is good enough to play in the All-Star Game. However, it will doubtless come as a relief to Kris Humphries. The New Jersey Nets star had a recent 72-day marriage to Kim Kardashian, the most high- profile sister. And having seen how Odom was treated by the Mavs, Humphries could be thinking he had a near miss.