REUTERS – Former NBA star Lamar Odom was hospitalized on Tuesday after he was found unresponsive at a Nevada brothel, law enforcement officials said.
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Odom, 35, the ex-husband of reality television personality Khloe Kardashian, suffered a “medical emergency” at the Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, about 80 miles (50 kms) northwest of Las Vegas, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office said in media release.
Odom was stabilized at the scene and was prepared to be airlifted to a Las Vegas-area hospital, but the “stature” of the basketball player made it impossible to transport him by helicopter, the release said.
Odom, whose career in the NBA included seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, stands 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 meters) tall.
The sheriff’s office said an investigation was being conducted and gave no further details about Odom’s condition or what caused the emergency.
A call to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, where Odom was being treated, was not immediately returned.
The celebrity website TMZ reported that Odom had been at the brothel for days and a woman there found him unconscious in his VIP suite.
The owner of the Nevada brothel, Dennis Hof, told the Los Angeles Times the athlete had “wanted to get away from everybody, wanted to have fun.”
He told the newspaper that his staff said herbal Viagra was found in Odom’s room.
Odom played 14 seasons in the NBA. Kardashian, a reality TV star and a younger sister of the better-known celebrity Kim Kardashian, filed from divorce from the basketball star in 2013 after four years of marriage.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing by Toby Chopra)
