"I've been trying to beat them, now I'm with them," said Payton, who signed with the Lakers as a free agent in July. "Life is funny, but I'm happy that I got (Lakers) on my chest."

Payton and the other veteran players on the Lakers' roster reported to training camp on Thursday, and practiced for the first time yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Lakers have been holding training camp in Honolulu since Tuesday, and will play exhibition games against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Payton and forward Karl Malone were the two highest-profile additions to an already star-studded Los Angeles roster.

"We scored a lot of points in our career, we accomplished a lot of things," said Payton, 35. "We're not looking to that no more. We're looking at making a statement that we can win championships."

Payton, a 6-foot-4 point guard, has been one of the NBA's best players over the past 13 years. He played his first 12 seasons for Seattle, and then was traded to Milwaukee late last season. For his NBA career, he is averaging 18.3 points and 7.4 assists per game.

Payton has also lived up to his nickname as "The Glove" by being selected to a record-tying nine NBA All-Defensive first teams. Michael Jordan is the only other player to attain that feat.

Entering this season, Payton ranks seventh on the NBA's all-time list for both steals (2,147) and assists (7,590).

However, Payton — like Malone — has never played on a championship team.

"Those two know they're future Hall of Famers," all-star center Shaquille O'Neal said. "They don't have anything to prove, but they need to do something else in their career. It's all about winning."

The Lakers won the NBA championship in 2000, '01 and '02, but went 50-32 last season, and were eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals.

"There's one reason why I came here, and that's to win a championship," Payton said. "I don't care what they want me to do, I'll do it if it's going to help this team win."

Payton even agreed to sign with the Lakers for a discount price in hopes of winning his first NBA championship. Payton, who earned $12 million last season, will be paid $4.9 million this season.

Now, his role is to direct a Lakers offense that features not only himself and Malone, but the two returning stars of the Lakers, O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

"We're like an all-star team, an Olympic team," Payton said. "It's going to work because we're going to make it work. We don't think about egos. Shaquille O'Neal is still going to average 27 points. But if I have to average 10, 12 points and have 10 or 11 assists, that's fine with me.

"Everybody wants us to fail, but we won't fail."

As announced on Thursday, Bryant was the only Laker no-show yesterday. Team officials said that Bryant — who is facing felony sexual assault charges in Colorado — missed a private flight to Honolulu on Thursday because he was "under the weather," but is expected to attend practice today.

Perhaps because of Bryant's absence yesterday, Payton practiced at both point guard and at Bryant's shooting guard spot .

Los Angeles head coach Phil Jackson said he did not establish a starting lineup yesterday. However, Payton worked with Derek Fisher, Malone, O'Neal and Devean George in a unit that could be called the starting five of the players available in camp.

Payton said he was not worried that Bryant was not at practice yesterday.

"It doesn't affect me," he said. "I know I'm going to play with Kobe, so it's going to be fine."

Assuming Bryant can play for the Lakers this season, Payton said he is ready to take over the point of the triangle offense taught by Jackson.

"I might have the ball in my hands 50 to 60 times more than anybody else," Payton said. "I got to get the ball to the right people at the right time. In this system, it's not always focus on one person dominating the ball. We have a lot of passing, a lot of cutting, a lot of movement. It's going to be great."

• Bruised Shaq: Center Shaquille O'Neal practiced with a bruised left heel yesterday.

Jackson said O'Neal "wasn't running as fluidly as I like to see," but added that the all-star reported to camp "trim" and "in good shape."

• Fox sighting: Forward Rick Fox attended practice yesterday, even though he is expected to miss at least the first two months of the season with a foot injury.