On same plane, if not the same page

OK, guys, big smile.

Wait a minute, aren’t we missing someone?

Or not. After a summer of wondering if Kobe Bryant would show up, the Lakers will fly to Hawaii for training camp after Monday’s media session, with Bryant expected to be among them.

After demanding that the Lakers trade him in May and pointedly refusing to take it back in July and August, Bryant is back in touch and planning to be there.

“I have no reason to think he won’t report,” General Manager Mitch Kupchak said Tuesday.

“I communicate with Kobe. We’ve met. We talk on the phone, text [message], all of these things within the last month and very recently.”

If it’s not quite a happy ending, at this point the Lakers will settle thankfully for a happy beginning.

Bryant has already apologized for ripping Kupchak and railing about trading Andrew Bynum in a video recorded by three fans and sold on the Internet.

Kobe said more, including his claim that owner Jerry Buss “lied” about trying to win now, but the team won’t require him to go through all the points he made, one by one.

One of the modern All-Purpose Existential Explanations will do (“I said what I said, the situation is what it is, now my focus is on the season.”)

This wouldn’t actually explain anything but would signal a shift in Bryant’s position, which is all anyone cares about if you’re as good as he is.

(Bryant’s agent, Rob Pelinka didn’t return calls this week. Megastars say what they want when they want to these days, but their agents rarely say anything at all.)

Any chance the Lakers have this season, in which so many of their destinies may be decided, hangs in the balance.

Bryant can make the story of his future go away or at least hold it at bay, as he did this summer with the U.S. national team in Las Vegas.

Failing that, the story will dangle over the Lakers all season and they’re already a longshot.

“Kobe knows how to live with things,” Coach Phil Jackson said recently. “Basically, Kobe has always shown the ability to maneuver around situations. Even in a year that was as damning as any year could be [2003-04], we still went to the [NBA Finals].

“He’ll be able to handle it, but I don’t like it for the organization and the other guys. . . .

“I think as a coach, you play with what’s given you. But when chemistry’s not good, that’s the one thing I want to make sure, that we have good chemistry, that guys want to play for each other and with each other. . . .

“If you’ve got guys who are willing to sacrifice, you can be talent-poor and still win. If your heart’s not in it, you can’t put your body in it and expect to succeed.”

By the way, that commitment to “play the hand that’s given you” is another signal.

Jackson and Bryant, one and two years from free agency, respectively, remain united in their yearning for a big trade.

However, Jackson says he has no problem with the front office’s decisions, with Minnesota boss Kevin McHale disinclined to send Garnett here and Indiana’s high price -- Bynum and Lamar Odom -- for Jermaine O’Neal.

Jackson being Jackson, you’ll have to take his word that zinging “Jimmy” Buss for not delivering the “big changes” he promised in May -- when Jim also zinged Phil for “calling out players in the media” -- was all in fun.

The appearance that Jackson was siding with Bryant against Lakers management got Jackson ripped locally the day he went into the Hall of Fame this month.

In case anyone wondered, Jackson is, indeed, an eccentric and there was, indeed, a tug-of-war within the organization.

Of course, Jackson won three titles here before being shown the door and returning to take their 34-win team to the playoffs, not to mention his bond with Bryant.

To quote Billy Joel, it just might be a lunatic they’re looking for.

Few teams walk a tightrope in the exhibition season, but these are the successors of the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. They’ve been here before.

Compared to fall 2003, before Jackson’s season of the damned with Bryant facing sexual assault charges, Bryant approaching free agency and at the height of his feud with Shaquille O’Neal, this is a pleasure cruise.

Unfortunately, with Bryant weighing his options so openly, there’s no assurance this sitcom will keep running.

Bryant, who never acknowledged a doubt for three seasons without O’Neal, awoke to the realization his window for winning a fourth title here was closing or closed.

Even more dismaying than seeing Greg Oden and Kevin Durant coming West was the sight of LeBron James taking his raggedy Cleveland Cavaliers, who might not have made the playoffs in the West, to the Finals in June.

Barring a franchise move, the Lakers’ situation is what it is. No one knows how they’ll finish this season, but if they play their cards right, they may get to start it, anyway.

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mark.heisler@latimes.com