Sources: Lamar Odom moved from Las Vegas to L.A. hospital

ByABC News
October 20, 2015, 12:08 AM

— -- Lamar Odom was transported by medical helicopter from Las Vegas to a Los Angeles hospital Monday night, sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

Odom was accompanied by his estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, sources said. They left Las Vegas around 5 p.m. PT, and he was in a private room in a L.A. hospital later that night, according to sources.

The helicopter for Monday night's move was large enough to transport the 6-foot-10 Odom, who had to be transported to Las Vegas by ambulance last week because he was too tall for the helicopter from a regional hospital in Pahrump, Nevada, near the brothel where he was found unresponsive.

Odom's family and friends said earlier Monday that his condition was improving. He has been hospitalized since Tuesday, when he was found at Nevada's Love Ranch brothel, 90 minutes northwest of Las Vegas. He was rushed to the hospital and put on life support.

Odom has been breathing on his own, without a tube, since Friday, according to sources. He also has been conversing with family and friends.

The 35-year-old former NBA star has started physical therapy and will soon try to walk, sources told the Los Angeles Daily News.

"Lamar has always been blessed with a tenacious, fighting spirit, overcoming insurmountable obstacles to achieve the impossible," JaNean Mercer, Odom's maternal aunt and godmother, said in a statement. "These past few days have been no different. ... [He is] defying the odds in his toughest battle to date."

Jim Harrick, Odom's college coach at Rhode Island, told CNN that Odom has made progress.

"We're more hopeful now," Harrick said. "We've been on pins and needles for days."

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne contributed to this report.