Former NBA Star Lamar Odom Found Unconscious At Nevada Brothel
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Lamar Odom, the former NBA star and reality TV personality embraced by teammates and fans alike for his humble approach to fame, was hospitalized Wednesday, his estranged wife Khloe Kardashian by his side, after being found unresponsive in a Nevada brothel where he had been staying for days.
Hospital officials provided no immediate word on the condition of the 35-year-old former Los Angeles Laker and member-by-marriage of the Kardashian clan, who was found facedown at the Love Ranch Tuesday afternoon, according to brothel owner Dennis Hof.
Odom started "throwing up all kinds of stuff" when the 911 operator told them to turn him on his side, Hof said.
MORE: Brothel Owner Dennis Hof Talks About Encounters With Lamar Odom
Hof said Odom had been taking herbal Viagra and had drunk part of a bottle of cognac since arriving; he said he had no knowledge that Odom used any other drugs.
"It's incredibly sad," Hof told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "He just wanted to get away, have a good time and relax."
Odom emerged from a difficult childhood in Queens as one of the most promising basketball talents of his generation, and spent most of his 14-year NBA career in Los Angeles with the Lakers and Clippers, becoming a fan favorite and a beloved teammate of Kobe Bryant.
But the two-time NBA champion and Olympic medalist's successful basketball career and television stardom couldn't free him from his demons; and his life never free of struggle and tragedy, most tragically the death of his infant son in 2006. And after his made-on-TV marriage to Kardashian broke up in 2013, his behavior became erratic.
Hof, who owns several legal brothels in Nevada, said his staff had picked up Odom from a home in Las Vegas on Saturday, and he seemed "happy, he was sleeping every night," while visiting.
But two women went to check on Odom Tuesday afternoon after not hearing from him since early morning, and found him face down and unconscious.
Authorities were called to the ranch in Crystal, Nevada, about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday Crystal, Nevada, for a report of an unresponsive man needing an ambulance, Nye County Sheriff Sharon A. Wehrly said in a statement.
Odom was stabilized and taken to Desert View Hospital in nearby Pahrump. They tried to airlift him from there to Las Vegas, but the 6-foot-10-inch Odom was too tall for the available helicopter and he was driven about 70 miles instead to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
Odom's hospitalization was first reported by TMZ.
Odom, who won two NBA championships with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010, last played in the NBA in 2013.
His whirlwind engagement and 2009 wedding with Kardashian was taped for the E! network, and their marriage was chronicled on the "Khloe & Lamar" show, where he appeared to be a romantic partner very much wanting more children that never came.
People always seemed to root for Odom, a fallible, Everyman personality whose prematurely weathered face wore the impact of his personal tragedies in a friendly way that seemed to acknowledge his lowest points even when he reached the heights of pop-culture fame in sports and reality TV.
Kardashian filed for divorce in 2013, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce has not yet received final approval from a judge. Still, she has been by his side at the hospital since Tuesday evening, according to a person close to the Kardashians who spoke anonymously because she wasn't authorized to speak to the press.
The Lakers played an exhibition game in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, losing 107-100 to Sacramento. Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace are Odom's only remaining teammates on the roster.
World Peace clearly was distraught about Odom's health after the game.
"There's not one word I could say that would make sense," World Peace told reporters, declining further comment.
Bryant left the arena without speaking to reporters.
Odom spent the best years of his career with the Lakers, winning two championship rings and the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award in 2011.
After seven years in purple and gold, he was crushed in December 2011 when the Lakers attempted to trade him to New Orleans in a multiplayer trade for Chris Paul. He eventually went to Dallas in another deal, but was out of the NBA just two years later.
Some troubles that met Odom before and during his career appeared to worsen after he left the league, and included a no-contest plea to drunken driving shortly before his divorce.
Odom was suspended during the 2000-01 season for violating the NBA's anti-drug policy for the second time in eight months. During the 2010-11 season, a cousin he was close to died and Odom was a passenger in a vehicle involved in an accident in New York that killed a cyclist.
Odom played one season at Rhode Island before being drafted in the first round with the No. 4 overall pick by the Clippers in the 1999 NBA draft.
Born Lamar Joseph Odom on Nov. 6, 1979, in New York City, he was raised by his grandmother after his mother died of cancer when he was 12. His father was a drug addict.
In 2006, Odom's 6-month-old son Jayden died from SIDS while sleeping in his crib in New York.
He has a daughter, Destiny, and a son Lamar Jr., from a previous relationship.
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Dalton reported from Los Angeles. AP Sports Writers Beth Harris and Greg Beacham also contributed to this story from Los Angeles.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
