initial local account during setup

You're correct. You answered it! 😂

A Mac always has to have some local account on it, but it could be a local admin/IT account that gets created automatically. And yes, if configured this way, as long as your Macs are able to connect to the network at the login screen (wired?) then logging in with an AD account is possible.

Personally I think you should consider looking at alternatives to binding or at the very least using local accounts versus cached AD mobile accounts. They are becoming less and less popular and have their share of difficulties. But if you really want to do this, it's possible. In your Prestage Enrollment, under the Account Settings section, check the box for "Create a local administrator account before the Setup Assistant" and enter the username and password for that account. (Tip: Later, you can set up an ongoing policy to change the password for that account as needed if required by your org's security policies) Optionally, you can also check the "Hide managed administrator account in Users & Groups" option, which makes sure it doesn't show up for users in System Preferences > Users & Groups.

Then further down where it lists "Local User Account Type" just use the "Skip Account Creation" option. This prevents the macOS Setup Assistant from prompting for a local account to be created and will just bring you to a login screen after enrollment (and AD bind) Make sure to push a Configuration Profile at enrollment that sets the login screen to Username and Password fields so it's easy to log in with network credentials.

The key to this working however, is to ensure your Macs can communicate with your domain controller(s) at the login screen, or trying to log in with an AD account will surely fail.