Lamar Odom
Never get it twisted, no Los Angeles Lakers role player list should ever exclude Lamar Odom.
To put it simply, Odom bleeds purple and gold and you can see that through his effort on the floor.
Lamar Odom was easily the Los Angeles Lakers best role player in the 2009 and 2010 championship seasons. In a team with Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant, it becomes very easy to defer to the big dogs and let them do the work, this was the case with some of the Lakers players during the championship seasons.
They would look to Kobe to bail them out of bad times and if that failed Pau would follow up and pick up the slack.
Odom did not defer.
Lamar Odom would do everything he possibly could to help out Kobe and Pau anytime he was on the floor if that meant scrapping for a rebound, giving up his shots to find his superstar in rhythm, getting in his defenders face or even something so simple as set timely and well-placed screens to get his teammates more room to shoot.
While Odom’s numbers during the Championship years don’t jump off the screen (2009:12PPG & 9RPG) (2010: 9PPG & 8RPG), it was the level of effort, dedication and his overall ability to be a good teammate in times of struggle that makes Lamar Odom such a revered player in Los Angeles Lakers history.
If you think about it, Lamar Odom would potentially be a perennial All-Star in today’s NBA. His ability to play 1 through 5, to pass the ball and assist at a good rate as well as grab rebounds, score on the inside, and play good defense.
An easy comparison you could make is likening Odom to a poor man’s Ben Simmons. Athletic, long, jack of all trades, master of none who is capable of playing any position you put him in. While not the best shooters, they can get buckets when needed and are going to fight hard for their team.
Odom would provide the perfect injection of the bench for this Lakers team. With LeBron resting, Odom could dish the ball out to his fellow teammates in the flow of the offense and allow for a smooth transition between the bench and the starting unit.
Having Lamar on this team would be a gift from god.