Lamar Odom Calls Kobe Bryant the ‘Father Figure’ He Never Had

Lately, Lamar Odom has been opening up about the dark patches of his life. But Odom took time during his appearance on Shade 45’s Sway in the Morning to shine a light on people who had a positive impact on his life. 

On Sunday, Odom took to Instagram where he posted clips of last week’s conversation with Sway. While the focus of his press run is to promote his autobiography Darkness to Light: A Memoir, the videos on his account highlighted two important people and former teammates. The first was all-time great and Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant. In the two-part post, Odom points out that Kobe’s mindset not only impacted him as a player but also helped him mature as a person.

“Kobe Bryant played a crucial role in my life. I have recently started to reflect back about my relationships and I’m so grateful for the people god gave me. His love and care was so deep I should have given you my 6th man award just because I feel you deserved it,” Odom captioned the post. “My book, Darkness to Light wouldn’t be my life story if you weren’t in it. I hope you know that I’m extremely blessed to have you in my life not only as a friend, laker fam, but also as a father figure that I never had. Thank you.”

The second person Odom chose to thank was AAU teammate, NBA teammate, and childhood friend Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest). In addition to congratulating Metta on his Showtime documentary, Odom used the caption of his clips about Artest to share his friend’s mission with the world.

“Ron Artest AKA [Metta World Peace] is one of my closest brothers. I also talk about him in my book. He is the dude that showes up from nowhere when he feels that people do me wrong,” Odom wrote. “Someone that always wanted to protect me with a heart of gold. Someone that I think deserves to be on the forefront to talk about mental health. Did you know that he raised 670k $towards mental health causes.”