Lamar Odom: One last campaign for his basketball bucket list

MANILA, Philippines – It was a visibly tired Lamar Odom who made his way to the Luna Members Café at the Bonifacio Global City.

“Still somewhat jetlagged,” he offered. “Tired too. I’m older, I mean. Not as young as I once was.”

The 6’10” former NBA star will play for Mighty Sports in their upcoming participation in the Dubai International Basketball Tournament along with Barangay Ginebra import Justin Brownlee and Randolph Morris.

The event at the café is a meet and greet with fans — the last media event for Odom before the team heads out to the Middle East.

Despite his obvious tiredness, Odom, though a man of few words, is game and very warm with the fans and the few media present.

At 39 years old, one can say that he is on his last basketball legs. It has been five years since he last played in the NBA — with the New York Knicks. Prior to that, he suited up for Laboral Kutxa Baskonia in the Spanish League. A back injury limited him to two games. And health is his paramount concern today.

“There are days when I ask myself, ‘why am I still doing this?’ But I realize that’s just the morning blues, you know what I mean? Then I know I am doing something that I love and that is playing basketball. So I will do this for as long as I can or my body can.”

The native New Yorker first made a name for himself playing for the Los Angeles Clippers then for building neighbor, the LA Lakers. In his two decades of playing professional basketball, Odom has won two NBA championships with the Lakers, a Fiba gold medal and Olympic bronze medal. He has been feted the awards for making the NBA All-Rookie Team and later, as Sixth Man, also with the Lakers. What else if left on his basketball bucket list?

“To win a championship abroad,” he quickly put. “That is something I have never done.”

In terms of adjusting to the new cultures, it isn’t so much of a problem. “The different times maybe,” he put. “But as far as the game is, it is no different from playing in the US. But what I like about playing abroad is how it broadens your horizons. You meet new and different people. Develop new networks. Who knows what that will bring?”

Odom stopped short of guaranteeing a championship in the Dubai tourney. “All I will say is I, we, will do our best,” he summed up. “I know that basketball is a culture here, and it means a lot to the fans. So, all I can do is my best and hope we get it.”