Lakers hailed by chief: Obama welcomes NBA champs

Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant presents President Obama with a jersey during the team's visit to the White House on Monday.

Reporting from Washington - It was time for one last victory lap, seven months later, in the memorable confines of the East Room in the White House.

The Lakers met with President Obama on Monday, continuing the annual tradition of an NBA champion's visiting the White House, though this one had to be unique, accompanied by presidential trash talk and an audience that included reality TV star Khloe Kardashian.

The Lakers qualified for the meet-and-greet by winning their 15h NBA championship last June, beating Orlando in five games. The time lag between breaking down the Magic and getting broken down by Obama was related entirely to their schedule, which continues tonight against the Washington Wizards.

As the players stood in front of a large gold backdrop, Obama began the nine-minute ceremony with a compliment, as expected.

"I'm 48, and soon to be 49, and it's a little harder these days to move around on the court . . . but I still get enormous, enormous pleasure from watching great athletes on the court and nobody exemplifies excellence in basketball better than the Los Angeles Lakers last year," he said.

The former Illinois senator, an avowed fan of the Chicago Bulls, expressed delight in meeting Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, calling him "Zen master."

"I want to congratulate him on his 10th NBA championship, the most in history," Obama said, pausing for effect before dialing up the humor. "I do want to point out that six of them came with the Bulls."

Then he turned and ribbed Lakers minority owner Magic Johnson.

"You remember that, Magic," he said, mimicking Michael Jordan's famous layup in which the Bulls guard switched hands with the ball midair in the 1991 NBA Finals, won by Chicago over the Lakers in five games.

"I got a kick out of that," Johnson said later. "What can you say when the president of the United States can trash-talk you? Normally I have a good comeback, but this time I had to let him slide."

Obama didn't zing Kobe Bryant, the Finals most valuable player, calling him "one of the most competitive players I've ever seen."

"If I had a broken finger, I would have trouble getting out of bed, and he's still leading the team day in and day out," Obama said.

Bryant didn't hold much hope that Obama would become a Lakers fan.

"He's Chicago through and through," Bryant said afterward. "I'm going to work on that, though."

Bryant will get some private time with the president this morning. They are scheduled to have breakfast together.

"I spent time with President Bush as well, but you know President Obama's knowledge about the game is a little bit more extensive," Bryant said. "President Bush is more of a baseball guy."

Among the 150 or so Lakers guests who attended the ceremony were team executives Jeanie Buss and Johnny Buss, players' wives Kardashian and Vanessa Bryant, numerous Lakers personnel and about a half-dozen members of Congress who were "big Lakers fans," Obama said.

Kardashian, who married Lakers forward Lamar Odom in September, created the ceremony's first photo op when she was escorted by a White House aide from her seat in the 11th row to the front row of the audience, alongside other players' family members. Photographers caught every moment of it, clicking away.

Obama couldn't help getting in a political plug during the ceremony, lightly referring to his idle healthcare reform bill by mentioning Jackson's annual habit of buying a hand-selected book for each player before the longest trip of the season.

"I was hoping that, Coach, you were going to bring books for Republicans and Democrats in Congress, maybe to get them to start playing like a team together," Obama said.

Throughout the visit, there were plenty of smiles from the players and some other laughs as well.

Odom enjoyed Obama's mentioning him in an anecdote about last season's team, which broke every huddle by calling out, "One, two, three, rings."

"I wish I had a tape recorder," Odom said.

"Don't worry, they record everything in here," said longtime Lakers trainer Gary Vitti, standing nearby.

Ron Artest, the only player on this season's team who was not part of the championship run, missed the ceremony because he had symptoms of the flu, according to the team. He is expected to play tonight.

The ceremony ended with Bryant and Derek Fisher handing the president a Lakers jersey with "Obama" on the back and No. 1 on the front. Presumably, Jordan Farmar didn't mind.

The team also gave the president an autographed basketball.

"If this season's anything like the last one, I know that you guys have your sights set on the NBA Finals," Obama said. "So we might see you here before long."