Former Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers forward Lamar Odom is reportedly showing signs of improvement at a Las Vegas hospital, where he’d been in a coma since he was found unconscious Tuesday at a brothel north of the city.
The celebrity website TMZ.com cited hospital sources today in reporting that Odom has been taken off a ventilator and is now breathing on his own and verbally responding to doctors, echoing an earlier report from E! Online.
The report cautioned, however, that Odom was still in serious condition with some organs not responding.
Clippers stars Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan paid Odom a visit after returning from a team trip to China late Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Odom played for the Clippers in 2013, his last NBA stop.
“He probably has no idea we were there, but just to be there and to see him, hopefully he knows there’s a lot of guys that love him and want to see him do better and want to see him get better,” Griffin said before the team’s practice Saturday, according to the Times.
E! Online reported on Friday that Odom emerged from the coma he had been in since Tuesday, was breathing on his own and even said, “Hey, baby” to his estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian. E! broadcasts the various Kardashian reality shows.
Odom suffered a medical emergency at the Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, where an ambulance was sent about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly. Odom was taken to Desert View Hospital in Pahrump, about 20 miles south of Crystal, Wehrly said.
He was later taken by ground ambulance to Las Vegas’ Sunrise Hospital.
Wehrly said the sheriff’s office received a 911 call from two people at the brothel.
“During that call, the reporting parties informed the Nye County Sheriff’s Office dispatch the male had been using cocaine,” the sheriff said.
“They confirmed his usage on Saturday but was unsure if it had continued to the weekend. They also informed dispatch that he had used up to 10 tabs of sexual performance enhancer supplements over the last three-day period. He was unconscious but breathing. He had blood coming from his nose and his mouth, along with a white substance.”
Wehrly said sheriff’s detectives obtained a search warrant allowing them to collect a sample of Odom’s blood. That blood was drawn early Wednesday morning. Odom and Kardashian were married for about four years but recently moved to finalize their divorce. According to various media reports, however, the divorce still has not been finalized, leaving Kardashian with the authority to made medical decisions regarding his care.
Love Ranch owner Dennis Hof, whose brothel the Bunny Ranch is featured in an HBO reality series, said Odom had been at the brothel since Saturday.
Odom, 35, last played for the Lakers in 2011, when he won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award. He was a member of the Lakers’ 2009 and 2010 championship teams.
Odom appeared with Khloe Kardashian on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and in a spinoff series, “Khloe & Lamar,” in 2011 and 2012.
