A former basketball star and South Jamaica native has been hospitalized after he was found unconscious at a Nevada brothel, according to published reports.
Lamar Odom, who began his professional basketball career with the Los Angeles Clippers and then went off to win championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, was reportedly found unresponsive and foaming at the mouth on the floor at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday inside the Love Ranch South in Crystal, Nevada.
After calling 911, according to reports, workers at the brothel were advised to turn him over to the side, where he then allegedly threw up, until emergency personnel arrived.
Odom was rushed to Desert View Hospital and later transferred to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, where he is reportedly now in a coma with a failing heart and problems with his liver and kidney, reports said.
Odom began his basketball career in high school, playing for three years at Christ the King High School in Middle Village and later transferring to two other high schools where he was later named to the USA Today All-USA 1st Team as a senior.
His professional career began with the Los Angeles Clippers in 1999 where he stayed until moving on to the Miami Heat. He then went on to play for the United States at the Olympic Games in Greece and after one season with the Heat, Odom was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers – where he helped the team win two NBA championships.
The basketball star also made headlines in 2009 when he married reality television star Khloe Kardashian and even appeared in various episodes of the series “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” The couple divorced in 2013.
