Former NBA Champion found unconscious under suspicious circumstances in Nevada
Former Los Angeles Lakers Forward and two-time NBA Champion Lamar Odom was found unconscious at a brothel in Nevada on Tuesday and hospitalized soon after, according to ESPN. Word is awaited on his condition.
A call was made on Tuesday to the Nye County Sheriff’s Department requesting an ambulance for a man who was out cold at the Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, about 70 miles outside Las Vegas.
The call was made by Richard Hunter, media director for Dennis Hof, owner of the Love Ranch and other brothels in Nevada. The state is the only one in the United States of America where prostitution is legal, though stringently controlled and permitted only to be established in rural areas away from populated areas.
After stabilizing Odom, medics transported him to the desert View Hospital in nearby Pahrump. Attempts to airlift the 6”10’ Odom went in vain because he was too tall for the helicopter and was instead driven by ambulance to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
Dennis Hof told the Los Angeles Times that Odom, since Saturday, was a guest at his house , which is on the Love Ranch. He told the press that Odom wanted to “get away from everybody, wanted to have fun.”
Hof, who had a reality series “Cathouse” based on him, said that two women from the brothel found Odom prone on Tuesday afternoon, after being worried by his absence since early morning. They turned him on his back and saw some foul discharge spew from his mouth and nose. Odom reportedly had been taking herbal Viagra and drinking Cognac, but it is unknown if he was on any other substances.
Odom is most known in the NBA for his two Championships with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010. His career has been on the wane of late, with his last appearance in the NBA being in 2013 with his initial team, the Los Angeles Clippers.
Odom has found fame off the hardwood as well, appearing in the reality show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” by virtue of his marriage to Khloe Kardashian in 2009. A spin-of based on the couple called “Khloe & Lamar”, which aired in 2011. After months of speculation, the two divorced in December 2013, citing irreconcilable differences.