Pau Gasol, a Spanish professional basketball player who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, feels confident and hopeful that Lamar Odom gets to play in the NBA again.

As reported by TMZ, the 7-footer athlete was seen in Hollywood on Tuesday night. The celebrity gossip Web site asked how he felt about his friend and ex-teammate, Lamar Odom. Gasol is pretty positive that Lamar can make a comeback to the NBA. He also told TMZ that he hadn't been in contact with Lamar from the time the news about the alleged drug addiction spread, so he is not sure what is going on in his friend's life.

"The main thing is that Lamar is happy and healthy," Pau told TMZ.

"In our profession, you get off the train if you do not train hard," he added. He thinks that as a basketball player, one has to prepare hard to become marketable in the NBA. It is probably what Pau thinks that Lamar should do in order to return to NBA.

The Los Angeles Lakers training camp has already started. The team is getting their players ready to step back on the court after its unsatisfactory 2012-2013 season. Pau, who spent the summer resting after a knee procedure, joined the team in weight-training exercises and individual drills.

Pau has expressed his feelings about what is going on in Lamar's life when he heard that the ex-teammate is battling drug addiction. Here's a message he posted on Twitter back in August.

His concern for Lamar is genuinely entrenched for evident reasons. They played in four seasons together, appeared in three NBA finals, and won two championships.

It is clear that Pau Gasol is just as concerned as everybody else about Lamar's situation at the moment, and we can only sincerely wish that Lamar recovers really soon.