EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — It has been almost three months since LeBron James signed a free-agent deal to come to Los Angeles and join the Lakers.
Three months, more than enough time for N.B.A. fans and even the news media to prepare.
But it still seemed odd, even jolting, to see him at the team’s training facility on Monday, speaking for the first time to a thick assemblage of reporters as a member of his new team, dressed in a purple-and-gold Lakers uniform affixed with No. 23.
This was media day, James’s official unveiling. It was a chance for him to have a little fun if he wanted, a chance for him to publicly expand on his reasons for leaving Cleveland a second time and for joining a team he had long been attached to in rumors.