OK, it’s mid-March and Andrew Bynum just walked — for the first time — on a treadmill designed to put only about 65 percent of his body weight on his joints.

Ohh-kay.

The Lakers better not be expecting him back this season. If he can’t walk unaided in mid-March, and the regular season ends in five weeks … are they going to play him into shape during what figures to be the cut-throat Western Conference playoffs? Uh, no.

So, they will have to play with what they have.

Is it enough to get into June?

I’m going to say yes. Barely.

I wouldn’t set aside money to buy NBA Finals tickets just yet. But with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, the Lakers have three fairly dependable scoring sources. (Lamar being the obvious weak link there.)

The trouble spots for the Lakers are …

–At point guard, where Derek Fisher (who I admire as a person) has trouble with first-tier opposition (Jason Kidd recently ran rings around him, and Chris Paul will on Friday) and where Jordan Farmar is still a bit green.

–At interior defense. Gasol doesn’t really clog the lane. Neither does Ronny Turiaf, who is a bit undersized, which negates his willingness to bang bodies. With Bynum unlikely to contribute this season, with Chris Mihm (remember him?) still out, the Lakers have issues here. All those in-the-paint points they have been giving up lately are alarming, and certainly something other teams have seen and will attempt to exploit.

The trip the Lakers are going out on now might be telling.

They get New Orleans, Houston, Dallas and Utah in a seven-day span, beginning Friday. Those are four teams headed for the Western Conference playoffs, and a 3-1 performance against them (or a 1-3, 0-4) may give us a better idea of the Bynum-less Lakers’ ability to stand up to road games against top teams.

The X Factor: Kobe. Can he kick it up another notch? Does he have the stamina to keep playing like a maniac, pretty much a perpetual state of mind for him since December? If he can do that, and the rest of the Lakers are vaguely competent … anything is possible. Right up to a Finals appearance.