The only requirement to win the award is for a player to come in as a reserve more games than he starts. Odom started 35 games and entered off the bench in 47. He was a starter for long stretches of the season while center Andrew Bynum was sidelined with injuries.

"I'm very happy for him," Kobe Bryant said after the Lakers' workout Tuesday. "It's extremely well-deserved."

Many of Odom's teammates, including Bryant, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Luke Walton and Shannon Brown, attended the presentation ceremony that was held in the ballroom at a Los Angeles-area hotel.

"There's a couple that I wish that was here to see it," an emotional Odom said, fighting back tears.

Odom's six-month-old son, Jayden, died in the summer of 2006 because of sudden infant death syndrome. Odom's mother, Cathy, died of colon cancer when he was just 12 years old. His grandmother, Mildred Mercer, who raised him as a youth, died in 2003. He writes a tribute to each of them on his sneakers before every game.

When a player is in the playoffs and is in line to win one of the NBA's annual awards, the league will often schedule the press conference prior to what could potentially be the team's last home game so that there can be an additional presentation of the award in front on the player's hometown fans.

The Lakers trail their best-of-seven first round series against the Hornets 1-0 and the series shifts to New Orleans for Games 3 and 4, meaning that Wednesday's home game would be the last in the case of an unlikely sweep by the Hornets.

Earlier in the season Odom said if he ended up winning the award he would place the trophy on the scorer's table at center court for the duration of the game as a symbol of his appreciation for the fans.

"When I started to come off the bench, [the fans] just started to give me a round of applause that they've never given me before," Odom said. "They kind of let me know that they appreciated me and that felt really good ... That's something that I'll never forget."

Along with the trophy, Odom received a new Kia Sorento CUV that he will donate to the Lakers Youth Foundation.

Odom is the first player in Lakers history to win the award, which has been presented since 1983. He finished sixth in the voting in 2010. Atlanta's Jamal Crawford won it last season.