The Los Angeles Lakers struggle to rebound the basketball, but they have somewhat rebounded from early-season rough patches on a few occasions. LeBron James isn't sure they can do it again.

For one half, the Lakers' Christmas Day matchup with Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks was a merry affair for Darvin Ham's team. Their second-half effort was grimmer than a lump of coal in a stocking. After taking an 11-point lead in halftime, the Lakers surrendered 51 (FIFTY ONE!) points in the third quarter — the most any team has given up in a quarter in the NBA this season. They were outscored by 30 in the frame and ultimately fell, 124-115.

Their fourth loss in a row — and fourth in five games since Anthony Davis suffered a stress injury in his foot — dropped the Lakers to 13-20, 13th in the Western Conference. It was their fourth straight game allowing at least 124 points.

The Lakers weathered a five-game losing streak to open the season. They turned a 2-10 record into 10-12. Of course, that was with AD.

Following the Mavs game, LeBron sounded uncertain about whether his team, barring significant changes, had the fortitude to climb back into the mix.

“I think I look at it that way,” LeBron responded when asked about whether the Lakers' previous resiliency gives him confidence going forward. “I look at it the other way too, like, how many times are you going to try to dig yourselves out until it's too much dirt on you?”

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LeBron's comments are subtler than some of his previous remarks about the Lakers' shortcomings. Last February, after a lopsided defeat to the Milwaukee Buck (just before the trade deadline), he made headlines by acknowledging that not only were the Lakers nowhere near the Bucks' level, but they didn't have the potential to get there.

After opening night of 2022-23, LeBron took a jab at the front office by pointing out that the Lakers — predictably, the league's worst three-point shooting team — lacked “lasers.”

Before the “dirt” comment in Sunday's postgame presser, LeBron did, once again, note the deficiencies of this season's squad. He lamented their lack of length, citing a brief stretch in the fourth quarter when Darvin Ham desperately deployed a five-guard lineup. (As with shooting, the Lakers' dearth of large wings has been a glaring hole since the offseason.)

“Reality is, without AD, we lose a lot of length, which we don't have already. So we have to make up in ways that, without AD, is very difficult, very challenging. I think at one point we had a lineup of, I think, (Austin Reaves) was the tallest guy on the court.

“So, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out,” he concluded — meaning: figure out the Lakers sorely need AD back and/or need to upgrade the roster if they're going to prevent another season from spiraling into the abyss.