AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
President Barack Obama has welcomed the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers to the White House.
An avid basketball fan, Obama says no team exemplified excellence on the court more than the Lakers did last year in winning their 15th league championship.
Obama said Monday he was especially excited to meet Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who has won 10 championships, though he didn’t hesitate to remind the team that six of those victories were with Obama’s hometown Chicago Bulls.
“You remember that,” Obama joked with former Lakers all-star Magic Johnson, who was on the losing end of the Bulls 1991 victory.
Obama commended the players not only for their athletic achievements, but also their work off the court. The players held a fitness clinic for Washington-area school children
Monday, and several players are donating money to relief efforts in Haiti. The Lakers added to Obama’s collection of sports jerseys, presenting him with a bright yellow jersey with the president’s name stitched on the back.
The Lakers have been to the White House numerous times.
Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
President Ronald Reagan shakes hands with Magic Johnson during the world champion Los Angeles Lakers’ visit to the White House in 1985 in Washington, D.C.
