Despite suffering a season ending injury, Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant has remained busy lately as he spends his time finishing and promoting his upcoming documentary, Kobe Bryant’s Muse.
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His recent stops have included interviews with Grantland and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Bryant also recently sat down with USA Today’s Sam Amick and revealed he still talks to his former teammate, Lamar Odom:
He’s doing good. He’s doing good, man. I’ve talked to him during some of the low times for him, and I think during those moments it’s funny how sports can be really impactful because I used what we did as a team, and the toughness and the mental fortitude and shared some stories to kind of remind him of that journey, right? And to take him back to that place, to hopefully get him to find that place again and get himself out of this thing.
As teammates, Bryant and Odom won two NBA championships together. Odom was a key component of the Lakers winning as he won the Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2011, the same year the Lakers saw their quest for three straight titles come to an end. In response, the front office looked to retool their roster and included Odom in a trade that would’ve sent Chris Paul to the Lakers.
Of course, the trade was vetoed by then NBA commissioner David Stern, who was in charge of the ownerless New Orleans Hornets. Odom, however, didn’t receive the news well. He felt betrayed over the trade and asked the Lakers to move him. Instead of being dealt to New Orleans, the Lakers sent Odom to the Dallas Mavericks.
After joining the Mavericks, Odom’s career went downhill as he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. While Phil Jackson attempted to give him a chance with the New York Knicks, Odom was waived and has not returned to the NBA since then.
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