Four months after Iman Shumpert’s father died, the retired NBA star is reflecting on their final conversation.
The 35-year-old former New York Knicks player opened up about his late father, Odis Wayne Shumpert II, and the profound impact he had on his life during an emotional appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s hit podcast “Club Shay Shay.”
Fighting back tears, Shumpert shared that their last exchange was, fittingly, about style. Since retiring from the league, he’s taken on a number of new ventures that require him to swap out his jersey for a suit and tie.
“And our last convo, he just was like, ‘Man, you look good in them suits. Man, I like that you taking jobs now that you wearing that suit,’” he recalled. “And then he told me, ‘Don’t come home, finish filming.’ Because we was filming the podcast. Told me and my brother not to come home, finish filming. He got to go in the hospital. He’ll be right back.”
Odis died in October 2025 in Chicago at the age of 71. Before he passed away, he built a life and career as an insurance broker. He also raised Shumpert alongside his brothers Otis III, Ahrii, and Kasani in Oak Park, Illinois, with their mother and his wife of 44 years. He remained a steady presence in his son’s life well into adulthood and even appeared alongside him on the reality series “We Got Love: Teyana & Iman” which followed Shumpert, his then-wife Teyana Taylor, and their two daughters, as well as appearing on his podcast “Iman Against Men,” and in campaigns.
“I guess it’s like, the happiest hurt that you can have,” he said on “Club Shay Shay” of losing his father. “I know a lot of people didn’t have a father, and … I leaned on mine. I had friends that leaned on my father. And it’s like, it makes me happy as hell to say, like, he was a good man.”
He added, “But it’s like, within that same breath, it makes you cry like a little baby [because] I ain’t got him no more.”
Shortly after his father’s death, Shumpert paid tribute on Instagram, sharing a carousel of photos of the two through the years.
“Down goes the King…a sweet goodbye to the greatest man I’ll ever know,” he wrote. “You can take your rest pop, u did ur sh-t I promise. I don’t know if I’ll ever fit ur shoes but ima have em on everyday anyway. I love you man. Rest In Paradise.”
