The tributes to Kobe Bryant are still coming in…
The NBA legend touched so many lives around the world, but for some he was more than an awe-inspiring figure; he was a friend.
Lamar Odom, who played both with and against Kobe over their basketball careers, shared his thoughts on Instagram Sunday, in addition to two photos he called “the tip of the iceberg of our relationship.”
Related: Everything We Know About The Helicopter Crash That Killed Kobe
He wrote about his one-time teammate:
“He taught me so many things in life that were necessary on and off the court. On the court he taught me how to carve out defenses and how to take my time. How to make winning my ultimate goal. Off the court he taught me to sign my own checks lol.”
Aww! What a cute image! In his poignant post, Lamar next made an astounding statement about how profound this loss was for him, writing:
“Of course anyone who knows my story knows I’ve suffered a lot of loss but the only loss I can compare this to is when I lost my son.”
Wow. That is a heck of a statement.
For those who don’t know, Lamar lost his baby son Jayden, with ex Liza Morales, to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in 2006. He would be 14 years old now if he had lived…
Lamar explained the comparison, saying:
“Even though our relationship wasn’t father/son, it was more like him being a teacher and me being his brother.I’m glad I got to be the ying to your yang as far as the locker room was concerned. It was my pleasure.”
He then talked about how receiving the news of Kobe’s death affected him, how he immediately was in denial — and kind of still is:
“I couldn’t even catch my breath today when I heard this news. I just knew if he was in a helicopter crash he would have been the one to survive. Somehow he would have jumped out and landed on his feet. I’m sitting here thinking about when we would be in practice scrimmaging and you would start the jump ball off with elbowing Sasha in the chest. Like dude it’s 10:30 in the morning lol. You think watching him play was crazy, you gotta think in practice if you scored like 8-9 buckets throughout the practice you had a great practice. I’ve seen him knock off 13-14 in a row in practice!!!! I’m still waiting for the media to come out and say wrong report. No way God took my brother this early.”
Lamar finished:
“I know I been through my own stuff in life with using drugs and not being good to myself. When I went through that Coma situation if God would have came to me and said we would take me and spare Kobe I would have rather that happened. In honor of my brother I’m up at 4am tomorrow to get to the gym! Gigi gone give you buckets!!!! I love you brother ???? @kobebryant
Such beautiful sentiments from someone so close not to the myth but to the man.
[Image via Adriana M. Barraza/FayesVision/WENN.]
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