Having visited the White House last year following their '08-'09 title run, the Lakers returned to D.C. and again met the President, this time not at his official residence but at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, where the team participated in a variety of community service projects.
Community service projects, and good-natured trash talk, that is. Reports ESPNLA.com's Dave McMenamin:
President Barack Obama, who's been a Chicago Bulls supporter much longer than he's been the commander in chief, seamlessly transitioned from politician to trash-talking fan Monday when surrounded by the back-to-back champion Los Angeles Lakers. "Derrick Rose may have your number," President Obama lightheartedly jabbed at Kobe Bryant as the team posed for a photograph after presenting the president with an autographed replica 2009-10 championship banner, like the one that hangs at Staples Center...
"I said, 'If he calls that number, I'll be sure to pick up after the fifth ring,'" Bryant quipped."
Good line, and a trump Kobe is unlikely to lose, whether to Rose (facing a long road to earn as much hardware as Kobe) or Obama (unlikely to win five elections, unless he can swing a whopper of a constitutional amendment).