“It Was Intense”- Lamar Odom Reveals What Was It Like to Be Teammates With Kobe Bryant
Lamar Odom is a former professional basketball player who spent 14 years of his career in the NBA and one year in Liga ACB. He was the fourth overall pick at the 1999 NBA draft by Los Angeles Clippers. He spent four seasons at the Clippers and was a part of the All NBA Rookie First Team in 2000. He became a restricted free agent in 2003 and was signed by Miami Heats. After one season, he was traded to LA Lakers with two other players for Shaquille O’Neal where Kobe Bryant was the undoubted star of the side.
It was here, he met the legendary Kobe Bryant who was in his eighth year at the Lakers. He won two NBA Championships while playing for the Lakers alongside Kobe in 2009 and 2010. He was also named NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2011. He spent one season each at Dallas Mavericks and LA Clippers and left for Spain in 2014. He played one season in the Spanish league and Euroleague with Laboral Kutxa Baskonia.
Despite being picked by the Clippers in the 1999 NBA draft, Lamar Odom spent the majority of his career at city rivals Lakers. It was here he met Kobe, with whom he won two consecutive Championships. In the ‘Real Ones’ podcast, Lamar Odom talked about what it was like to be Kobe’s teammate.
“You know what’s crazy, people don’t really realize about him. They didn’t have to be stars, he was always reaching out to them and want them around his team. That’s probably competitive nature.”
When asked about what was it like working with Kobe Bryant behind closed doors, Lamar Odom said it was ‘intense’ but he ‘understood him’.
“It was intense. But it helped me because I understood him. I met Kobe at an early age. We were under the same umbrella. So I already knew what type of time he was on from 16. We were just playing one on one when we were 16-17 years old. And I kind of understood, how he was back then. The first one to be there, the last one to leave. A lot of people say that but can’t really do it consistently. Waking up at 4:30, getting a thousand shots in. 500 might be a turnaround to the right, 500 might be a turnaround to the left, and 800 step backs in repeatedly. This is in the summertime. It’s just like when you’re off.”
Lamar Odom talked about how he understood Kobe from childhood and how hard Kobe Bryant used to work at that age. Lamar could only play two games for Baskonia and got injured. He came back to the United States and after regaining his fitness, he signed with New York Knicks. But he didn’t appear in the team’s season finale. The Knicks missed the playoff spots and waived Lamar.
Four years later, he decided to participate in the Chinese Basketball Association but later claimed that he wasn’t fit enough for the league. Later that year, he joined the Philippine club Mighty Sports, which played in the Dubai International Basketball Tournament.
