Lamar Odom’s coach tells heat: “I worry about him if he and Khloe Kardashian don’t work out”

The last fortnight has been, in Khloe Kardashian’s own words, “incredibly difficult” and something “you could never be prepared for”.

After her ex, Lamar Odom was rushed into hospital when he slipped into a coma following a three-day booze and drugs binge at the Love Ranch brothel in Nevada, Khloe, 31, refused to leave his bedside.

Then last week, in a twist straight out of a TV drama, Khloe – who’d split with Lamar, 35, two years ago over allegations of cheating and drug addiction – dramatically called off divorce proceedings, just three months after the papers had been signed.

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But* heat* has learned this isn’t the simple love story it seems: behind the scenes, friends and family are fearful of the effects the couple’s much rooted-for reunion could have on both Khloe and Lamar, and wonder if her recent boyfriend, James Harden (who she’d been dating for three months before Lamar’s collapse), is fully out of the picture after all.

heat spoke to someone truly on the inside, Lamar’s basketball coach, Jim Harrick, who’s known the star since he was 14 years old. Jim says Lamar is like a “son” to him, and is still so close to the former sportsman, he’s regularly visited him in hospital and receives daily updates from Khloe.

Speaking about whether the end of divorce proceedings means the couple will reconcile, Jim told us, “Lamar wants that desperately. If he does things right, I think she would be on board with getting back together. They love each other, they really do.”

The couple’s relationship has always been tumultuous – since marrying a mere month after they met in 2009, they’ve struggled with fertility issues, cheating rumours and finally split in December 2013 amid stories of Lamar using crack cocaine.

And with his friend in such a fragile state, Jim tells us, “I do worry what might happen if things fall apart again.”

Read the full story in this week’s heat magazine – OUT NOW!