Right now, all that he can say is 'maybe'

Of all the reams of words publicly spilled at Lakers media day Monday, only one really mattered.

- BILL PLASCHKE

ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times

STARTING HIS first full season with the Lakers following last season's blockbuster trade, forward Luka Doncic poses for photos at the team's media day.

When LeBron James was wrapping up his interview with the folks at Spectrum Sportsnet, host Chris McGee asked, "By the way, see you at next year's media day?" James' laughing answer set the template for a season.

"Maybe." So the Lakers should treat the next eight months emptying their assets and forgoing their future and playing with the desperation of a team trying to earn one last piece of jewelry for arguably the greatest player ever? Maybe.

So should the fans here and around the league show up in droves and line up around the block for their last live look at a living legend? Maybe.

Or, if everything goes wrong and things get ugly, should the Lakers and James willingly part ways through a midsea-son buyout?

Maybe.

No matter what happens, the fact that James didn’t reveal his intentions in his first public appearance since last spring means that this Lakers season has the chance to be a murky maybe mess.

Everybody knows where the Lakers stand — as Rob Pelinka said last week — for James to finish his career here.

“We would love if LeBron’s story would be he retire a Laker,” Pelinka said. “That would be a positive story.”

But still nobody knows where James stands, and it’s not obvious, because, while he’s 40 and entering his NBA-record 23rd season, he looks young, and acts energetic, and Monday at the Lakers facility he was at his charming best.

“Just excited about the journey and whatever this year has in store for me,” he said.

He’s probably not saying because he truly does not know. Next spring is a lifetime away. He doesn’t know how he’s going to feel. He doesn’t know how his basketball future could look.