The Phoenix Suns went through a whirlwind of controversy this past offseason which led to the eventual exit of longtime owner Robert Sarver. While the team is trying to turn the page toward the next chapter of their franchise's history, former NBA veteran Lamar Odom claims there's still an unwelcome leftover from the previous regime: the Suns' gorilla mascot.

In his recent appearance on The Bootleg Kev Podcast, Lamar Odom didn't mince words in claiming that the gorilla mascot has always had “racial connotations.”

Via Bryan Fonseca of the New York Post:

“Come on, bro,” said Lamar Odom on the podcast. … “The thing that’s funny is they kind of slid that one by for all these years. Nobody says anything about that.”

Odom further posited that the gorilla has nothing to do with Phoenix or the Suns organization at all. It's just an out-of-place mascot that carries unnecessary baggage.

“Gorillas, in the desert, you can’t find any,” Lamar Odom continued. “You could probably find a cactus. … In basketball, just like, come on, bro. 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.”

The Suns have featured the gorilla mascot since the eighties and don't appear privy to swapping it out for a desert-themed creature anytime soon. But if more voices rally behind Lamar Odom's claims, perhaps the front office would need to take them under consideration.