NBA: Lamar Odom Says He’d Rather Give His Life During Coma To Spare Kobe Bryant

Lamar Odom was hoping he could do the ultimate substitution in all of the sports.

The former Los Angeles Lakers’ teammate of Kobe Bryant gave out an emotional message on his social media post upon learning the death of his friend and his daughter, Gianna.

On his Instagram post, the 40-year old wingman posted a gallery of their photos together and also wrote about the lessons that the “Black Mamba” have imparted with him during his playing career, both 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,” said the 6-foot-10 Odom. “Off the court, he taught me to sign my own checks lol.”

“Even though our relationship wasn’t father/son, it was more like him being a teacher and me being his brother,” added the 1999 NBA first-round pick, thinking that Kobe would be the one to survive a helicopter crash by just jumping out and still landing on his feet. Odom went on to compare his loss to the day that his son died 13 years ago in his sleep.

That loss, according to an article posted by People.com, was the starting point of his drug addiction and infidelity. In 2015, he was found unconscious in his brothel in Crystal, NV where he was placed on life support after being comatose. He also suffered several heart attacks and numerous kidney failures due to his use of cocaine.

Remembering those days of horror, the former Lakers star forward said that he’s ready to make the ultimate sacrifice just to bring Kobe back to life. “When I went through that Coma situation if God would have come to me and said we would take me and spare Kobe I would have rather that happened.”

Odom played seven seasons with the Lakers from 2004 to 2011 and won two championships with the team in 2009 and 2010. The lefty forward also bagged the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in 2011 after playing an integral role to then Phil Jackson-led squad’s title run.