Playboy Interview: Lamar Odom

A candid conversation with the NBA and reality-TV star about keeping up with Kobe, living in the Kardashian circus and overcoming life's hard knocks

The spotlight in Los Angeles basketball has his­torically been big enough for only one man, and his jersey says bryast. Then in 2009 Lakers forward Lamar Odom married Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Khloe Kardashian a month after meeting her. In the world of Hol­lywood gossip, the wedding was a slam dunk. Suddenly Odom was thrust onto magazine covers and talk shows typically reserved for basketball's biggest stars.

That attention also brought an inevitable backlash. The media accused the couple of fak­ing the marriage for publicity. For Kardashian, who used the wedding as a major story line on the fourth season of her reality-TV show, the marriage was a ratings booster. For Odom, crit­ics claimed, it was a way to raise his profile and step out of the colossal shadow of Kobe Bryant, the Lakers' main attraction.

If true, it was a very un-Odom-like maneu­ver. In a basketball era when the biggest stars shoot first and pass later, Odom is the oddball. He's a prolific passer and a player seemingly built for making his teammates look better. At six-10 he's a towering force capable of spreading the ball around, and his laid-back personality means he doesn't mind playing a supporting role. As a result, he is the eighth-fastest player in NBA history to reach 3,000 assists and 6,000 rebounds.

Odom crafted his game on the courts of South Jamaica, Queens, an only child raised by his mother, Cathy, a corrections officer on Rikers Island, and an absentee father who struggled with heroin addiction. Odovi's prowess on the court earned him Parade magazine's Player of the Year title and a spot on USA Today's All-USA first team. Then his career hit the skids before it had even begun. His scholarship to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was revoked before the start of his freshman year after a series of reports suggested that someone else had taken a standardized test for Odom, and he was also accused of accepting $5,600 from a booster. He transferred to the University of Rhode Island and returned to the court with a vengeance, hitting a last-second shot to bring the school its first Atlantic 10 tournament title.

The Los Angeles Clippers drafted him in 1999, but during his four seasons there he was suspended twice for violating the NBA's drug policy. Sporlswriters began writing him off as another wasted talent. Then, in 2003, the Clippers traded him to the Miami Heat, where coach Pat Riley taught him the off-court discipline he needed and, according to Odom, saved his life. After one season Odom became a Laker as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat. Paired with Bryant and coach Phil Jackson, Odom

flourished, helping the Lakers win back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and 2010. Odom, now 31, is also a gold medalist, hav­ing played on Team USA in the 2010 FIBA World Championships, and a father to two children with a previous girlfriend.

playboy sent Jason Buhrmesfer to Los Ange­les to meet Odom at Playboy Studio West. Says Buhrmester, "For someone who has lived through as much as Lamar has, he sure laughs a lot. He's an extremely positive guy and surpris­ingly philosophical, even when discussing what he describes as the stuff he's done that 'wasn't cool.' lie has a legendary sweet tooth, and dur­ing the interview he put away a large bag of peach jelly rings and a couple of chocolate bars. We started the conversation there."

PLAYBOY: Your appetite for candy has not been exaggerated.

ODOM: I think it started because both my mother and my father had this sweet-tooth thing going on. My grandmothers used to always have cookies and cakes. My mother was the youngest child out of five kids, and I'm an only child, so I was the baby's baby. If I pointed at something I usually got it. It started with ice cream and cake. I'm the kid who would ask for two ice cream cones and have them

dripping, trying to eat both of them at the same time.

PLAYBOY: Wrigley gave you a life-size rep­lica of the NBA championship trophy made entirely of candy after the Lakers won the 2009 championship. You added another championship in 2010. Can the Lakers win again this year? ODOM: We got off to a quick start and then hit a little pothole when we lost four games in a row for the first time since 2007. I think we can. I know we can. It's just about us playing basketball the right way. We need to keep our energy and our effort at a high. And it's about us under­standing that we've run the championship the past two years in a row and every team wants to play their best game against us. We're the target.

PLAYBOY: You guys are looking to create Phil Jackson's second three-peat with the Lakers, but the media spend more time talking about the Miami Heat. Does that bother you?

ODOM: No. I think it's good, actually. It adds fun to the story line of the season. The beautiful thing the Heat did with those big names coming together and playing on one team—that's the story line of the season. It adds to the challenge, and as an athlete that's what you appre­ciate the most: a challenge. PLAYBOY: Who's the best player in basket­ball now, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James? ODOM: It's hard to say who's the best. Last year you would have given it to Kobe, and three years ago of course he won the MVP. It's hard to take away his body of work. PLAYBOY: Kobe also has five champion­ship rings.

ODOM: Yeah, even though my dude LeBron is having another extraordinary year, Kobe is skilled. He's at the point in his career where he doesn't have to average the most points. People think whoever averages the most points is the better player. They're both playing at high levels and they're both incredible players, but I always have to go with the home team.

PLAYBOY: Does the quality of groupies change after you win a championship? ODOM: The groupie level is always there. I didn't have any problems meeting women in my life. I never had that problem. PLAYBOY: Was it hard to navigate that world when you first got to the NBA? ODOM: To each his own. You know when you're at different levels of success. Now, if you were in high school and nobody wanted to sit at your table, and then you're in the NBA and everybody's sit­ting at your table, most likely you know what's up. That's up to you. I always had lady friends, but that has now come to a screeching halt.

PLAYBOY: It sure has. You met your wife, Khloe Kardashian, at a "Welcome to L.A." party she hosted when the Lakers signed Ron Artest. How did you approach her? ODOM: I knew one of her girlfriends, Malika. She was good friends with

[Orlando Magic player] Quentin Rich­ardson. They were just platonic friends. I'm looking at Malika like, I know this girl from somewhere. She said, "Do you remember me? I used to hang out with Q." So we're having a drink, and I see Khloe getting a little overwhelmed as far as people invading her space. I had to tell security, "Why don't y'all come clear out this area for the young ladies?" We started drinking champagne and talking. I was kind of surprised at how intelligent she was. You don't know what to expect. Next thing I know I'm spending every day with her. We just hit it off. PLAYBOY: How far from your mind was meeting your future wife when you left the house that night?

ODOM: I never in my life thought I would get married. There was a time when I liked being a certain way, being social and having friends in different places, but when I met Khloe, that was the first time I got the urge to be like, I don't even want to do that anymore. That's when I knew I found somebody. I couldn't do what I normally do. She's too strong-willed. She'd leave me.

PLAYBOY: What do you mean "do what I normally do"?

ODOM: Like, be a man. Men, most of the time our goal is to have what we want when it comes to women. More than one. Most men like more than one woman. A lot of them would not want to admit that because that might not be cool, right? Most people don't want to get married. Being married, that's a responsibility. I always used to tell that to women. I don't want a girlfriend because that means I've got a responsibility. I have a responsi­bility to call you. I have a responsibility not to be with another woman. I have a responsibility to be there on time when you need me. With her I was like, If I do what I normally do, I'm going to lose her. And if I lose her, I think it's going to hurt a lot. Right then and there I knew. We were together every day. PLAYBOY: You two were married a month after you met. Did your friends or family question why you got married so soon? ODOM: I think people could question it, but if you really know me, I'm not stupid. I make decisions because it's something I want, something I feel I need to have. As

a friend, you may disagree, but at the end of the day you're supposed to be support­ive of me. A lot of people I wanted to be supportive weren't, but what can I do? PLAYBOY: Are you referring to family and friends?

ODOM: Yeah. It was hard for a lot of peo­ple to accept. It was crazy. She's a woman who works and who understands money. Some people who don't understand see it from a view of "You've got to watch out. She's trying to get you." But she's got her own. One of the most beautiful things about her is that she understands how to make her own way in life. This is one of the reasons our connection is so strong.

PLAYBOY: So it's important to you to be with a woman who works hard and earns her own money?

ODOM: There you go. Those are some of the things that brought us together. Her will too, because there have been times when we may have stayed up late and she had to go shoot the next day for 16 hours. She gets up and does that shit. I would've been looking for somebody to call for an excuse, [laughs] I was looking at her like, damn, this is the type of person I need to be around. That's one of the reasons I'm in love with her.

PLAYBOY: A lot of critics suspected the wed­ding was fake and labeled it a publicity stunt. Did that bother you? ODOM: No. That's just how gossip works, you know? You can't stop it. Because at the time, with us being so successful— me in basketball and her show doing so well—it was too big. It was too huge. It caught people off guard. It looked as though we had too much to gain. That let me know, damn, it's a big deal. Even the wedding was big. The list of her family friends was crazy. Those were her people showing up, showing their love. For some people that was too much to even think about. And it was quick. I guess that just added to the speculation—"Why can't they wait?" I didn't want to wait.

PLAYBOY: On one episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Khloe claims you were withholding sex from her until the wedding. Was that true? ODOM: I tried to. I don't know why I wanted to wait. We came together and knew what we wanted from each other really early, and everything we did felt good, from a hug to a kiss. Then there was a time when I just tried to be a gentleman about the whole situation. I was accepted by her family. She stayed at my place and vice versa. I thought, We're going to step back for a second. Keep it classy. PLAYBOY: During another episode Khloe makes you a "love tape" in which she poses naked in a bathtub full of candy and dresses as a sexy firefighter. Do you take the tape with you on the road? ODOM: I laugh about that. At first I didn't know how to take it; I didn't know if it was a joke. It was the perfect spoof for me. At

first I was like, "Is this serious?" Was it to make me laugh? Was it to be sexy and make me laugh? It was funny. PLAYBOY: What happens if a sex tape of you and Khloe leaks out? ODOM: When people see us in person, they see Khloe's not small. I'm not small. Peo­ple see us and are probably like, Damn, I wonder how that looks. We wouldn't have anything to be ashamed about, but no, that's not going down. PLAYBOY: Has it been hard to adjust to the dynamics of the Kardashian family? ODOM: People have the wrong idea. They're a really strong family and fun to be around.

PLAYBOY: But there is a circus that comes along with the family and the TV shows. ODOM: Well, that's what happens anytime you have a lot of people in a room, in a house, an environment. I'm perfect for that. I come from a big family. I've always been on a team. I understand. The circus is what makes it tick and keeps it going. PLAYBOY: Her stepfather, Brucejenner, was cold to you at first because he was left out of the wedding plans, but he warmed up right away. What did you two bond over? ODOM: Bruce likes me because I'm nor­mal. First, because he's in a house full of women. He could tell my energy is just about trying to do the best for his stepdaughter and do what I need to do. Respect goes a long way when you carry yourself a certain way and show man­ners when you first meet someone. If you do that, then it's hard for somebody not to like you.

PLAYBOY: How badly do you want to tell Kourtney's boyfriend, Scott, to shut the hell up?

ODOM: Nah, that relationship is between them. As a man, you know how that goes. That relationship is between her and Scott. As long as he's not disrespectful to Khloe, I can't overstep my boundaries. PLAYBOY: During game three of the 2010 finals, fans in Boston wore Khloe masks. Did that affect you?

ODOM: No. I thought it was fun. It showed the power we have as a brand. It's a compliment.

PLAYBOY: The Lakers won that series and the championship in the seventh game. We heard Khloe bought you a congratu­latory gift.

ODOM: She bought me a two-door Rolls-Royce Phantom, white on white, drop-top. I was greatly appreciative and proud. Anytime you have a woman in your life who can get you a gift like that it makes you proud she's your woman. PLAYBOY: You and Khloe met President Obama when the Lakers visited the White House. What type of impression did that make on you?

ODOM: That was cool. He can ball. And he plays lefty, so he has a unique way of thinking and doing things. He asked me, "How's married life treating you?" I was like, "Oh, okay." He's hip. lie knows what's going on. It was amazing. My

grandmother was born in 1923 in Georgia in the segregated South, so the signifi­cance of this was pretty big to me. PLAYBOY: You grew up in Jamaica, Queens. Your mother was a corrections officer at Rikers Island correctional facility. Was she as tough a mother as that makes her sound? ODOM: No, not at all. My mother was real soft. I was the baby. I could do no wrong. But we would always practice good man­ners, proper etiquette. My grandmother was from the South in a time when you had to carry yourself a certain way to be liked because people would dislike you just for being a color. So we spoke well. PLAYBOY: They sound like strong women. ODOM: They were very strong. My grand­mother went back to school and graduated college when she was 50 years old. She graduated from York College. To see strength in women made a big impres­sion. That's probably where I get a lot of my independence.

PLAYBOY: Your mother died of colon can­cer when you were 12. How did your life change?

ODOM: I probably got closed off. My con­centration level changed. School was

just something 1 would not concentrate on. I wouldn't allow myself to. I became detached. I got in touch with a cold side I probably wouldn't have gotten in touch with or maybe would've at a later age. I have that kamikaze button in me now where I can cut things off maybe a little too easily.

PLAYBOY: Did it affect your basketball? ODOM: No, I poured myself into basket­ball. I remember the day she passed away. I went to the park and just played. My family has lived in the same house since 1957, so a lot of people in the neighbor­hood were familiar with my mother and my family. We have the same phone num­ber we had then. A lot of people knew what I was going through. I remember I just played in the park. I was there for easily 12 hours before I went home at two, three in the morning, and my grand­mother didn't ask me a question. After that happened, though, she gave me a little talk, like, "There's going to be some stuff you're going to have to learn and do on your own now."

PLAYBOY: How close were you to your father?

ODOM: Actually, I just moved my father to California. He had a drug addiction when I was growing up. My father was addicted to heroin. I've seen a lot of things grow­ing up that I probably shouldn't have, but that's my story. I wouldn't change anything. I was 12 when my mother passed away. My mother started treat­ing me like a man when I was about 10. So I got what was going on. I didn't ask my father to take care of me because he couldn't take care of himself. PLAYBOY: Was he always a part of your life? ODOM: Yeah. He would come by. I would see him, but my mother and father had separated. I lived with my mother's fam­ily in Queens, and my father lived in Brooklyn. When you're growing up, you're going to have some resentment. My mother died; my father was getting high. But I have a good heart. I have only one father. I have only one parent alive, so I can't turn him off. And he looks just like me. I walk and talk like my father. I have a love for clothes. I have a love for fashion. I have a love for the street life. I have a love for partying, for dancing. At one time I had a love for women. PLAYBOY: Were you always into fashion? ODOM: Always. I can't help it. We have our famous place to shop in Queens called Jamaica Avenue. It's really famous for clothes and fashion. I always wanted to be part of that. Seeing it made, seeing it come to life is what I get a kick out of. PLAYBOY: Now you own your own cloth­ing line, Rich Soil. What's the concept behind it?

ODOM: I guess spirituality, looking fly. I got the concept after seeing all these T-shirts with skulls and signs of death. I wanted fashion that brought life to some­thing. So it started as a T-shirt line and has now gone to cut and sew. It'll be in Urban Outfitters everywhere. PLAYBOY: With your father out of the picture and your grandmother raising you, who were your male role models growing up?

ODOM: When you're from Queens you learn a lot from the streets and the peo­ple in front of you. That's part of a New Yorker's upbringing. PLAYBOY: Life on the stoop? ODOM: Absolutely. I learned from the dudes who were playing basketball and then the dudes who were serving [drugs]. It was a mixture of things you absorbed. I learned from my environment. PLAYBOY: You grew up with fellow Laker Ron Artest.

ODOM: Ron was from Queensbridge Housing Projects, and we grew up play­ing for the same traveling team, Brooklyn Queens Express. We used to go all around the city, playing in different tournaments. I always knew Ron was going to be one of those players who made it to the NBA. PLAYBOY: At what point did you know you too could be one of those players? ODOM: I knew for a long time, maybe since I was eight or nine years old. I

remember when I got my first rim. I had a Dr. J. Jammer, a miniature hoop that you put in your house. My father bought it, and that was it. I was attached to bas­ketball. By 10 or 11 years old, I used to play with guys who were 14,15 years old and hold my own. I could tell you a story. New York City public schools are horri­ble, so I went to a small Catholic school. My grandmother put me in there, but I couldn't focus on work at the time. The teacher used to hand out assignments, and when she would come around I'd be writing my name. She'd say, "What are you doing?" And I'd say, "I'm practicing my autograph." I used to always get in trouble for doing that, writing "Lamar Odom, Lamar Odom, Lamar Odom." People thought I was bugged out. When you're in the fifth, sixth, seventh grade, you get asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" One girl says, "An astronaut," and another girl says, "I want to be a lawyer. I want to go to Harvard." Teachers believe all of them. "Oh, you could be an astronaut. You can find the cure for cancer. You can do all that." You say, "A basketball player" and they're like, "You know what the odds are of you making the NBA?" PLAYBOY: But the odds really are slim to none for most people to make it in pro­fessional sports.

ODOM: Well, it's slim to none to be an astro­naut. It's slim to none to find the cure for cancer. It just seems further away when people talk about someone making it in professional sports. That's just the way we think. But I never let anybody shoot that down. It wasn't an either-or for me. PLAYBOY: You left Christ the King high school during your senior year and moved to New Britain, Connecticut to live with your coach and attend St. Thomas Aqui­nas High School. Was it culture shock to go from the streets of Queens to the sub­urbs of Connecticut?

ODOM: Yeah, but it was necessary at that time. I was maybe number one, arguably the number two player in the country. I got Parade magazine's Player of the Year. I could not concentrate dur­ing my senior year of high school. So it was just that I had to do whatever I had to do to graduate school, man. I had coaches who were friends with a coach at a school in Connecticut. I just needed to do something.

PLAYBOY: Where did you want to go to college?

ODOM: I knew for a while I was going to try for UNLV. I figured it would be UCLA or UNLV because I had visited the West Coast my senior year and loved it. It was crazy. I was living in Connecti­cut, and the coach at UCLA got fired and then hired the guy I was living with to be his assistant at the University of Rhode Island. So I made the choice to go to UNLV. But then things got crazy there, so I said, "I'm going to go to Rhode Island." It's funny because I needed to

be away from home, but I also really wanted to be close by so my people could watch me play basketball and so I could go home and get that knowledge from my grandma.

PLAYBOY: Things did get crazy at UNLV. Before you arrived, your scholarship was revoked after reports surfaced that some­one had taken a standardized test for you. What really happened? ODOM: That'd be pretty hard to do, you know what I mean? I'm six-10. It was just a lot of things. It's easy to break rules in college. You always hear of that happen­ing, and shit happens, man. I don't know. They tried to say I was taking this and taking that.

PLAYBOY: You were later accused of tak­ing $5,600 from a booster. UNLV coach Bill Bayno was fired, and the university was placed on probation for four years. Sportswriters everywhere made you the poster boy for everything wrong with col­lege sports. Did that hurt? ODOM: It hurt a little. I wasn't a bad dude. I never hurt anybody, especially at 16, 17. I wanted to play ball. I just lis­tened to people who were coaching me

or saying they were helping me. It both­ered me. I won't lie. It's America, right? People get second chances and people get those chances based on perception, how people see you. It bothered me a lot, but I never let it deter me, because I knew once I stepped on the court it was over.

PLAYBOY: Stepping on the court was the one thing you couldn't do. You ended up at the University of Rhode Island but had to sit out the entire year. ODOM: That was the fucked-up part. I couldn't do the one thing that helps me relieve stress. So then you start looking for different things to relieve stress, things you shouldn't be doing sometimes. What am I going to do? I'm going to go to New York, come back. I'm going to hang out at night, indulge.

PLAYBOY: What do you remember best about your time at the University of Rhode Island? ODOM: The support.

PLAYBOY: Are you sure it's not the last-second buzzer beater you hit to win the first A-10 tournament title in school history? ODOM: But that came along with the

support. Imagine hitting that shot and then going to a hotel and having the whole state of Rhode Island waiting for you. After I hit the shot and we went into the locker room, I had to do a press conference. I could barely talk. I was over­whelmed with emotion. I probably cried for about two hours straight. PLAYBOY: You declared for the NBA draft in 1999 but then tried to pull out. What changed your mind?

ODOM: I didn't know who to trust, which way to go. You need a strong team. When you ask me about playing and people thinking I was a bad seed, I was 18 years old, and I'm not doing anything to hurt somebody, physically or mentally. I'm just living my life. I really didn't know which direction to go.

PLAYBOY: You attempted to return to col­lege but couldn't because NCAA rules state that once an athlete signs with an agent he is ineligible to play in college. Did you have a moment of panic when you thought you might have to sit out another year?

ODOM: That's when I knew you had to have balls to do good business. I had to become a good businessman early. I did all the things I needed to do, figured it all out, how to go to different workouts with different teams, did all that myself. PLAYBOY: You were drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers, a team not exactly known for winning. What was your mind­set going in?

ODOM: Rock and roll. When I was in L.A., I was 19. I was probably the most notice­able player, even though we had some good players on that team, some talent. I was probably the most noticeable name or face. In L.A., we can't be as good as the Lakers, so I was getting all the love the Clippers were getting. It was a learning process, learning how to deal with success. Smoking pot, doing things I shouldn't have been doing.

PLAYBOY: You were trying to make the Clippers cool.

ODOM: Yeah. Like, "We're going to be cool too, even if this is a Lakers town." PLAYBOY: The NBA's latest dress code tar­gets everything from jeans to large jewelry to throwback jerseys. Is the league trying to remove hip-hop's influence? ODOM: It's trying to crack down on it, but it's something the NBA can't stop. Gen­erations change and evolve. When you've got on jeans, Gucci shoes and a blazer with your T-shirt, that's still hip-hop. You could throw on a button-down with a tie and still make it hip-hop. I don't know if they can stop that revolution. What hap­pens when they play? You're going to see tattoos. That's hip-hop. PLAYBOY: The NBA also cracked down on player behavior. During the four years you were with the Clippers you were sus­pended twice for drug violations, one of which you admitted was marijuana. What was going on?

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LAMAR ODOM

(continued from page 38) ODOM: I was living the rock-star lifestyle. Things were happening. And that's proba­bly the most popular, biggest stress reliever we have next to alcohol. PLAYBOY: Should it be legal? ODOM: It's probably not my place to say as an athlete because it's going to rub some people the wrong way. Some of this game is political. But if you go to the best hotels nowadays, the minibars have alcohol in them. A lot of people die from that stuff. You can go to the store right down the street and buy something called cancer sticks. You know what I'm saying? It's whatever floats your boat. But in my business you can't do it. It's dead wrong and a no-no for guys who want to play in the NBA. PLAYBOY: In 2003 you were traded to the Miami Heat. You later credited coach Pat Riley for having saved you. How did he do it? ODOM: I finally had someone to tutor me and walk me through it. He let me know, "Hey, you can go out, but if the bar closes at two A.M., why don't you go home at 1:30 since you've got to get up anyway? I need you at your best. I'm paying you to be at your best. This is what I expect of you." I had somebody who truly cared about me as a person and as an athlete and who wanted both of them to succeed in life. It gives you confidence when the right people vouch for you. PLAYBOY: A voucher from Riley holds weight in the NBA.

ODOM: When he says, "I'm letting you guys know, you guys who didn't like him or wrote bad about him, that this is my guy and I got him and I'm going to take care of him, and if you like me, you like him." This is Pat Riley speaking up for you. When he speaks up for you, people listen.

PLAYBOY: Riley originally wanted to draft you out of college. I le said you were the first player to come into the league who had the ability to play like Magic Johnson, your hero growing up. What did you like about Magic? ODOM: Magic had the flair of a guard but in a big man's body. He made his teammates better by passing the ball. A lot of people do it only by scoring, but he understood how to get the most out of his teammates. PLAYBOY: The same has been said of you, that you're an unselfish player who spreads the ball around. You were the eighth-fastest NBA player to reach 3,000 assists and 6,000 rebounds. ODOM: Yeah. I pattern my game after that. It's a team sport. If you know how to involve everybody, you have a better chance of winning.

PLAYBOY: Riley loved you, and the Heat made the playoffs. Were you shocked to be traded after one season? ODOM: Not for who it was for! PLAYBOY: So because it was for Shaquille O'Neal it was okay?

ODOM: I told Pat, if I had the opportunity to trade Lamar Odom and Caron Butler at that time, in 2004, and get Shaq, I would have too. It's part of business. I could have avoided the trade and told them no, but I understood what his goal was. And if there's one team I would do it for, it's the Lakers. Only good things could happen.

PLAYBOY: The Heat won the championship two seasons later. Did that hurt at all? ODOM: That's what he did it for. They bet­ter win for that trade-off. But I knew I was going to get mine. Come on, I'm playing with Kobe, and then the next year Phil comes. Something good was going to happen. PLAYBOY: Riley is known for being a fiery coach, whereas Jackson is very cerebral. How different are their coaching styles? ODOM: Their styles are completely differ­ent. You could have two uncles, and the way they go about disciplining you and what you learn from them is very different. They're just two different people. Their mind-sets are different. Pat is very hands-on and confrontational. He tries to nip things in the bud. Both are good people.

Both are loyal people. But their styles are completely different.

PLAYBOY: When you joined the Lakers did at any point Kobe say to you "We are going to win a championship"? ODOM: He didn't. That's the thing about being around here—it isn't even something that has to be said. It's a feeling. There's a quiet confidence. It's the way we work, the way we learn together. We meditate together. Anytime you're around a dude like Kobe, you're going to pick up certain habits. His focus is something I can say I've probably picked up throughout the years, and he focuses on being the best. PLAYBOY: You and Kobe meditate together? ODOM: Well, no, we do it as a team. We sit there and put ourselves in whatever place

we want to be. The meditation is done together, but who knows what one is medi­tating about? It's kind of a form of prayer. You block everything out and put yourself in that place you need to be. PLAYBOY: That sounds like a Phil Jackson thing.

ODOM: That's a Phil Jackson thing. We call it living in the moment. You're living that moment. If you take a shot and miss it and you're not able to put it behind you or put it past you, then you're probably going to miss your next one as well. PLAYBOY: Bryant has a reputation for being volatile and critical. Did you have to learn to deal with it?

ODOM: I respected it. After a short period I understood that Kobe's trying to accom­plish what most people would be scared to even admit.

PLAYBOY: And what's that? ODOM: He wants to be better than Michael Jordan. Most people would be scared to admit that because that guy was that good and did that much. So you have to under­stand that what Kobe's trying to get as a basketball player and what it takes to get there, a lot of us don't even have the gall, the balls, the will. If you walk into a barbershop right now you can start that argument. He's doing those things to start that argument.

PLAYBOY: You two had an explosive argu­ment during a 2005 game in Washington. Rumors said it almost came to blows. ODOM: It was nothing. It was blown out of proportion terribly, and when it was over, it was over. It was good. I've seen a lot of teammates come and go. He lets me know in his own way that he appreciates me. But that's that Washington locker room again, [laughs]

PLAYBOY: That's the same locker room where Washington Wizards player Gilbert Arenas allegedly pulled a gun on teammate Javaris Crittenton during a dispute over a gambling debt in 2010. Have you ever seen a gun in an NBA locker room?

ODOM: No. People may have one, but who knows? I don't expect anybody to have a gun and use it. If somebody had a gun in my locker room and I saw it, I'd think he was probably going to target practice. What NBA player is going to shoot somebody, especially a teammate? PLAYBOY: The Lakers are known for their celebrity fans. Who do you like seeing in the stands?

ODOM: I was surprised at how much Jack Nicholson enjoys the game. He loves the game. To be honest with you, [producer] Joel and Karyn Silver and Denzel Wash­ington as well. Sometimes you think it's just a show from the outside looking in, but being there, you're surprised by how much they get into it. Dyan Cannon yell­ing, "Play your defense! Play defense!" You're surprised at how much they love to represent that team. They love the city. They love the team.

PLAYBOY: Who yells the most from the stands?

ODOM: Jack. He gets on the refs. He gets on the refs hard. He rides them. He lets them know if they're messing up or if they missed a call. It's as though he's in the game.

PLAYBOY: The Lakers' rivalry with the Bos­ton Celtics is legendary. Do you mark those games on your calendar? ODOM: You don't mark them on your calen­dar, but you understand they're going to be really intense, especially after they beat us in the finals in 2008 and then with us win­ning last year. Games this year were really intense. The level of competition just steps up. The game moves at a different speed, gets a little more physical. PLAYBOY: What's it like to play in Boston? ODOM: Crazy. You walk around and some­body driving his or her car yells, "Hey, Odom, fuck you! We hate you!" They say it like they mean it, too—not like they're rooting for their team but like they really don't like you. There and Utah, the fans are nuts.

PLAYBOY: Utah? We had them pegged as polite.

ODOM: Everything anyone knows about me that isn't cool, they know, [laughs] They bring up all kinds of things. You'd be sur­prised. But the one thing I do respect about those places is that they know basketball. They know the game. You hit a nice bounce

pass, you might hear "Oh!" That's when you know you did it.

PLAYBOY: You have two children with a former girlfriend. A third child, your son Jayden, died from sudden infant death syndrome in 2006 at just six months old. How did you deal with that? ODOM: It was tough. Being a spiritual person helped me get over it. My grand­mother passed away in 2003, and my son passed away three years later on the same day she passed away. In fact, it was on her 80th birthday. I was like, damn, maybe she was telling me she got him or some­thing like that. I just thought there was some significance. That's a hell of a coin­cidence. That helped me get over it, for real, because of my belief in God. People who live like my grandmother and give themselves to God are in good hands. He was a baby. He didn't do anything wrong. A baby's got to be the closest thing to an angel. So my belief helped me get through that, because that was at a time when I was really close to saying "Fuck this shit" and just spazzing out. PLAYBOY: You said at the time that you

considered leaving basketball. How seri­ous were you?

ODOM: I was serious, but it's hard to give up. I have two other children I have to live for, secure their future, so I had to grip up. PLAYBOY: During your first game back, against the Phoenix Suns, you had to leave the court and compose yourself. What was happening? ODOM: It was during the first game of the year. We played Phoenix. I was kick­ing their ass, you know what I mean? After my son passed away, I was like, "I ain't doing shit." I went to training camp and didn't do anything. I was out of shape. But when I was playing, I was busting their ass. Just the feeling of play­ing became overwhelming for me. That's when I went, Oh man, maybe he's with me. It was definitely joy. PLAYBOY: A lot of the stories about you focus on the rough things you've been through. Do you ever wish someone would write about what a fun guy you are? ODOM: But you know what? They're all parts of me. It's so funny. People on my team are like, "Damn, your life is nuts." But I think I'm funny. I always make people laugh. PLAYBOY: You seem like a very positive person.

ODOM: Thank you. People are intrigued by that type of shit. People who know me are even intrigued that things like that have happened to me. I seem very happy and easygoing and fun to be around, but if you read a biography of my shit you'd think I was tough and angry. My whole shit is a contradiction, an enigma. I don't know what people gravitate to sometimes. A lot of people identify with fucked-up shit. PLAYBOY: Knowing your past probably makes it easier for a fan to relate to you. Would you agree?

ODOM: Being down-to-earth is the most important. I'm neighborhood, not Hol­lywood. I love Hollywood. I love L.A. I'm from New York. I get to live in L.A., but I'm a neighborhood type of dude. Those principles and morals never leave me. I could fit in anywhere because of them. PLAYBOY: You've spent more than 10 years in the league, won two champion­ships and this summer won a gold medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Would it be easier to walk away from bas­ketball now?

ODOM: No. I need to work a little bit more. I still have a couple more things I want to do. There are never enough championships. PLAYBOY: Some writers have said this sea­son has been some of the most confident ball you've ever played. What do you credit it to?

ODOM: I think it's because I had a summer of work. I'm older and a bit more mature. I'm also in a place and time in my life where all I want is to get better at everything I do, whether it's fatherhood or being a hus­band or my craft. I'm 31. Who knows how much longer I have to play? I want to be remembered as one of the most versatile and complete players to ever play the game. And I'm at peace, man. That helps. I'm at peace. I'm happy. I'm focused.

Men, most of the time our goal is to have what we want

when it comes to women. Most men like more than one

woman. Most people don't want to get married.

My father was addicted to heroin. I was 12 when my

mother passed away. I've seen a lot of things growing up that I probably shouldn't

have, but that's my story.

When people see us, they see

Khloe's not small. I'm not

small. People see us and are

probably like, Damn, I wonder

how that looks. But no, fa sex

tape] is not going down.