GOOD NEWS:Report: Lamar Odom 'way, way better,' but still in critical condition and he is breathing without a respirator.

Headshot of Erick Fernandez Erick Fernandez Editorial Fellow, HuffPost Sports

The condition of Lamar Odom, the 14-year NBA veteran and who has been hospitalized in Las Vegas since Tuesday, reportedly continues to improve, albeit incrementally.

Lamar Odom

Odom, 35, was rushed to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas on Oct. 13 after being found unconscious at a legal brothel. The hospitalization followed a several-day period during which the two-time NBA champion and 2011 NBA Sixth Man of the Year reportedly drank Cognac, took too many doses of a brand of "herbal Viagra" that has been the subject of multiple warnings by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and, according to claims made by a brotherl employee captured in 911 recordings released by the Nye County, Nevada, Sheriff's Office, allegedly used cocaine.

After three days of "fighting for his life" in a medically induced coma, Odom reportedly regained consciousness on Friday, resumed breathing on his own, and spoke a few words. His turn for the better continued Saturday, according to ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne:

Lamar Odom is "way, way better" and is more conversational as he remains in critical condition in a Las Vegas hospital, a source told ESPN on Saturday. [...]

Odom slept most of the day Friday but did see his kids, father and Khloe Kardashian, his estranged wife.

Odom's condition had improved to the point that he "was texting and 'speaking sentences' from his hospital bed," according to Broderick Turner and Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times.

In addition to the family members that have been by his side since he was first hospitalized, Odom's visitors have also included former teammates and colleague. Longtime Los Angeles Lakerscompatriot Kobe Bryant and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak visited Odom in the hospital on Tuesday night, leaving the team's preseason game against the Sacramento Kings in Las Vegas to rush to the aid of the versatile forward who won back-to-back NBA championships as a Laker during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. From Bill Oram of the Orange County Register: