Lamar Odom has serious issues with a mascot for one NBA team in the league.
Odom, who played for the Miami Heat in 2003-04, is arguing that the Phoenix Suns gorilla has racial overtones. Gorillas have typical been associated as a derogatory terms for Black people.
Odom made these comments on an appearance on the Bootleg Kev podcast.
“Come on, bro,” Odom said. “The thing that’s funny is they kind of slid that one by for all these years. Nobody says anything about that.”
The former NBA all-star went on to claim the mascot has nothing to do with the team nickname.
“Gorillas in the desert, you can’t find any,” said Odom, who was involved in the trade that brought Shaquille O’Neal to Miami in 2004. “You could probably find a cactus. … Just like, come on. But you know what’s so, really crazy about it? They just tried it because they wanted to get the fans involved, and that’s the reason why they kept it — ’cause the fans loved it.”
He added that the mascot is not “good representation” because Phoenix was the last city to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday. The state of Arizona was indeed the last state to recognize the holiday.
Nobody besides Odon has an issue with the mascot, but the Suns were in the news after former owner Robert Sarver stepped down amid an investigation that determined he made racial and inappropriate comments in the workplace. He bought the team in 2004 for $401 million. It is now expected to sell for $3 billion or more.
Odom spent 14 seasons in the NBA from 1999-2013 playing for the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. He played alongside Kobe Bryant, Odom won two NBA championships with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010. He was also named NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2011.
In 961 career NBA regular-season games, the 6’10” Odom averaged 13.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per contest.
