Newlywed Lamar Odom rejoins Lakers after weekend wedding

Lights, cameras focus in on newlywed Lamar Odom

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Pardon Lamar Odom for looking tired.

Maybe it was the early hour, so soon after his weekend wedding to reality starlet Khloe Kardashian. Or perhaps it was the abbreviated honeymoon. Whatever the case, the Los Angeles Lakers forward appeared haggard at the team’s media day Tuesday.

Coach Phil Jackson appeared briefly, wearing a bemused smile as he watched the two-hour circus unfold, but he didn’t speak.

Odom and free agent Ron Artest were the media magnets, making Kobe Bryant almost an afterthought on opening day of training camp for the defending NBA champions.

Odom, Artest, Bryant and Derek Fisher each had their publicists run interference with the hoard of reporters, photographers and TV cameramen.

“Entertainment Tonight” sent a crew, too.

Odom wasn’t providing details on his surprise wedding, coming just weeks after he met Kardashian, because of contractual obligations with E!, the cable network that airs her reality series, Lakers spokesman John Black said.

The 29-year-old forward’s publicist said he couldn’t discuss it for privacy reasons.

“Anybody that was there would tell you that it was a beautiful event and it was real,” Odom said, quashing speculation that the nuptials were a publicity stunt for his new wife’s show.

A Los Angeles Times online poll asked what people thought about Odom’s wedding. “It’s all just for publicity” drew the highest response of 33.5 percent.

“I don’t need that. I get enough with the Lakers,” Odom said. “I do well for myself.”

Another 23.9 percent voted for “They haven’t known each other long enough and should wait.”

“There’s people who’ve been married for 25 years and they get divorced,” Odom said. “There’s people who get married overnight and the next thing you know they’ve been married 25 years.”

Jackson and his girlfriend, Lakers executive Jeanie Buss, attended the wedding Sunday at a private home in Beverly Hills, along with Bryant and his wife, Artest and Luke Walton.

“It was good to see Lamar happy and having fun,” Walton said. “He’s happy, which normally translates to playing better on the court.”

Artest endorsed the union, saying, “It was beautiful and it was meant to be.”

He reportedly played matchmaker, with his childhood basketball opponent Odom and Kardashian meeting at a party Artest hosted.

“That’s what I heard, but I don’t know,” he said. “I won’t run away from the credit.”

Artest later donned fake dreadlocks in a nod to Manny Ramirez for a taped piece of him reading the fan conduct code at Dodger Stadium, which will be shown during baseball playoff games.

Bryant was unfazed by the mob scene, and downplayed talk of any distractions surrounding the team.

“It’s a huge story now and it’ll die out,” he said about Odom’s marriage. “Everything will be smooth.”

Bryant said he didn’t touch a basketball for two months during the summer, a change from last year when he went from the NBA season to playing in the Beijing Olympics.

“All I did was get healthier,” he said. “My legs feel rejuvenated. I feel like I’m in great shape, nothing is nagging me outside of the hand and the fingers.”

Bryant and Artest are playing for the same team after tangling as opponents in last season’s Western Conference semifinals. Then with Houston, Artest was ejected from Game 2, won by the Lakers, after pointing at Bryant and gesturing near his throat. Artest complained that he was elbowed in the throat by Bryant.

“We’ve already started talking trash a little bit,” Bryant said. “I won’t divulge, but it’s fun and it makes practices fun and intense and competitive. We’ll have a good time.”