It is official that the Los Angeles Lakers are experiencing a slump. The Los Angeles Lakers (15-13) have lost four of their five games since their victory in the In-Season Tournament on December 9th, including the last three games. This comes after they displayed a lackluster performance against the Chicago Bulls.

“It has been a very difficult stretch of time. Without a shadow of a doubt,” Darvin Ham stated on Wednesday at the United Center while speaking. This this moment, we are located in the valley. We will make our way back up.”

Due to factors such as exhaustion, travel, illness, and lineup fluctuation, the Los Angeles Lakers have failed. For the first time this season, the Los Angeles Lakers had thirteen rotation players playing in Chicago. This was made possible by the long-awaited return of Gabe Vincent, who played 14 minutes. Despite the fact that the Lakers were more uncertain than unstoppable, the excess made them more difficult to beat.

“It is difficult to just make things click right away,” said Austin Reaves. “This is because whenever you have guys in and out of the lineup… and you put them back in the lineup, it is difficult to get things to click.”

In this month, Reaves has been a rare bright spot for the Los Angeles Lakers. After a game against the Bulls in which he scored 21 points on 9 of 14 shots, he is currently averaging 20.6 points and 5.3 assists on 51.4% shooting, including 42.3% from three-point range, in eight games played in the month of December.

Reaves proceeded by saying, “Every time we step foot on the court, we want to win.” “The standard, which is to win, is like that. In addition, it will continue to be the norm. Consequently, when I say that it is going to take some time, I am not implying that we are willing to lose games in order to figure it out. We need to sort things out, and at the same time, we need to win championships.

The Lakers are forced to come together on the fly since they do not have the luxury of regular practice, which is no longer a part of the current NBA.

According to Reaves, “I believe that if we come together off the court and talk about it, that will speed up the process of learning what everybody likes to do,” “What we are able to do in units for which AD and Bron are not currently on the floor.”

Another issue that has arisen is the absence of a constructive input from the guard who begins the game but does not bring it to a successful conclusion. D’Angelo Russell, who has recently been battling an ailment that is not related to COVID, was so disinterested against the Bulls that you could be forgiven for wondering if he was intentionally lowering his trade value at a venue that is expected to be his future home of basketball. This was Russell’s fifth game of the month in which he scored in the single digits, and he finished with two points and two assists in 28 minutes.

Despite the fact that the Russell/Davis/LeBron James/Cam Reddish/Taurean Prince combo had managed to create an 8-1 record prior to the current skid, Ham did not rule out the possibility of switching up the starting lineup. In his statement, Ham stated that the Lakers will “investigate” everything and that nothing in the rotation is “set in stone.” In the beginning, Ham sent Reaves to the bench in order to break up his best non-LeBron lead ball handlers while also carefully managing egos.According to Ham, “Doing that is always an option to consider.” “It is imperative that you take a close look at your group and determine what makes the most sense. On the other hand, because there are a variety of bodies coming and going from the lineup, it is necessary to maintain some kind of continuity with things. When you change the starting lineup at this level, it is a significant matter since you can’t just keep your players on a whim.

Already, the jubilant sentiments that are flowing from Las Vegas feel like they arrived from an eon ago. In the aftermath of the Lakers’ defeat on Wednesday, Davis, who had scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, expressed his disappointment by stating that the team should “get back to having fun, playing for each other, and playing together.”