Two days on from the shocking news of Lamar Odom breaking, the Los Angeles Lakers met for practice on Thursday in El Segundo, but the team still did not seem to be mentally healthy.
"I think everybody is thinking about Lamar," Lakers coach Byron Scott confessed. "One of the first thoughts in my mind when I got here this morning was had anybody heard any differently on what's going on with him. So, I think throughout the day, we're all thinking about him."
"It has the potential to be (a distraction)." Scott added. "We're trying our best not to allow it to be. This is still our safe haven right now."
Metta World Peace, who grew up playing with Lamar Odom on his AAU youth basketball team, also addressed the media. Although World Peace seemed more open to talking about his friend that he had known since 11 years of age, he still struggled to get out his thoughts and share the concern that was apparent in his voice and in his expression.
World Peace said that his brother had a hotel room across the hospital in order to show support and represent Jamaica Queens, the place where both Odom and World Peace grew up.
"Hopefully he pulls out of this thing and gets the support that he really needs," World Peace said in a somber voice.
World Peace expressed a great deal of gratitude towards the Lakers for their support, particularly thanking Kobe Bryant and Mitch Kupchak for visiting Odom in the hospital the night the story broke.
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"It's really not about me," World Peace said. "It's about Lamar and his kids."
Nick Young also spoke about Odom and spoke about how the situation could not help but be a distraction: "It's tough." Young expressed that World Peace and Bryant had been hit hardest by the sad news because both players having played with the 35-year-old.
"He's handling it," Scott spoke about Bryant. "It's hard on him. He was very close to Lamar, loves him like a brother. It's just a rough time for Kobe dealing with that. It's probably the first time he's had a teammate that's going through something like this."
Scott empathized with both Bryant and World Peace and said he had been giving all the guys space to deal with the sad news in their own ways. The coach offered prayers for him and said he asked his team to say prayers every time Odom popped into their heads.
"That we love you," Scott said when asked what he wanted to say to Odom. "We love him. We wish him all the best. Come back. Come back to us."
Notes: Bryant did not practice due to lower leg contusion suffered in the second half of Tuesday's preseason game in Las Vegas. He did not address the media. Marcelo Huertas, who injured his hamstring during training camp, practiced for the first time this preseason. He did not take part in the scrimmage, but Scott said he hoped the Brazilian would be able to play on Saturday in San Diego.
