Andrew Bynum's Playboy Mansion Fun

Los Angeles Lakers Center Andrew Bynum, who's still supposedly rehabbing from knee surgery to help his team was caught in a recent photo from a Playboy Mansion party. In the snapshot here, Bynum is seen with a Playboy bunny seated on his shoulders. The photo and sheer idea of this has outraged many LA faithful already. A blogger over at SI's fannation.com section says it seems Bynum (who was said to be several weeks away from return) is "well on the road to recovery". Bynum's been out of action since February with a tear in a ligament in his right knee.

The Playboy model he was carrying is 34 year old Nicole Narain who was Playboy Playmate of the month back in January 2002. She's been a hip hop honey video vixen for superstar videos from LL Cool J and Fabolous. According to her Wikipedia entry, she weighs just 110 pounds, which isn't a tremendous load for Bynum to shoulder. However the outrage may be more over the fact he was partying it up with alcohol and bunnies rather than resting or rehabbing the injury properly. While it's no Kobe in Colorado type scandal just yet, it definitely isn't the best publicity for the young Center who's part of the Lakers championship hopes in 2009.

Arash Markazi of CNNSI's Fannation.com wrote:

If Bynum isn't healthy enough to play, should he be able to live out his Playboy fantasy in the meantime? Maybe, but while he's rehabbing his injury and the Lakers play shorthanded without him, perhaps it'd be wise for him to keep a low profile and sit out a couple of pajama parties. The grotto and Playmates will still be there. The Lakers can only hope the same can be said for Bynum come playoff time.

On a sidenote, this isn't the first bit of controversy involving Nicole Narain either. Back in 2005, she and Colin Farrel were the stars of a sex tape which became grounds for a lawsuit to prevent anyone from selling or distributing the tape any further. Now Nicole is involved in this much more minor scandal, and it's only with Andrew Bynum. Perhaps this makes it on an episode of Girls Next Door, and if nothing else it's given the former centerfold a bit of a publicity boost right about now. Heff, take note- a Playboy models with NBA stars issue could be a hot seller.