The Los Angeles Lakers are, officially, slumping. After a lethargic showing against the Chicago Bulls, the Lakers (15-13) have dropped four of five games since their In-Season Tournament triumph on Dec. 9, including the last three.

“It's been a tough, tough stretch. No doubt about it,” Darvin Ham said Wednesday at the United Center. “We're in the valley right now. … We'll climb back up.”

The Lakers have succumbed to fatigue, travel, illness, and lineup inconsistency. In Chicago, the Lakers had 13 rotation players active for the first time this season — thanks to the long-awaited return of Gabe Vincent (14 minutes) — though the surplus rendered them more uncertain than unstoppable.

“I mean, it’s a little bit, it’s a combination of everything,” said LeBron James, who had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. “I mean, it’s the emotional fatigue, it’s the physical fatigue, it’s the grind-of-the-season fatigue. And when you’re not winning, obviously, that’s the frustration fatigue. So, a little combination.”

“Anytime you have guys in and out of the lineup … and you put them back in the lineup, it's hard to just make things click right away,” said Austin Reaves.

Reaves is a rare bright spot for the Lakers this month. After scoring 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting against the Bulls, he's averaging 20.6 points, and 5.3 assists on 51.4% shooting, including 42.3% from 3 in eight December games.

“Anytime we take the court we want to win,” Reaves continued. “That is the standard, is to win. And will always be the standard. So when I say it's gonna take time, it's not like I'm saying we are willing to lose games figuring it out. We gotta figure it out … and win games at the same time.”

Without the luxury of regular practice — extinct from the modern NBA — the Lakers have to coalesce on the fly.

“If we come together off the court and talk about it, I think that'll speed up the process of learning what everybody likes to do,” said Reaves. “What we can do in units where AD and Bron aren't on the floor.”

Another problem has been the lack of positive contribution from the guard who starts — but doesn't finish — over Reaves. D'Angelo Russell (who recently battled a non-COVID illness) was so disengaged against the Bulls that you'd be forgiven for wondering if he was deliberately cratering his trade value at a likely future home arena. Russell had two points and two assists in 28 minutes — his fifth game this month scoring in single-digits.

Ham didn't rule out a starting lineup change, though the Russell/Davis/LeBron/Cam Reddish/Taurean Prince unit produced an 8-1 record before the current skid. Ham said nothing in the rotation is “set in stone” and the Lakers will “investigate” everything. Ham originally realigned Reaves to the bench to break up his best non-LeBron lead ball handlers — while carefully massaging egos.

“It's always an option to do that,” said Ham. “You've gotta really look at your group and see what makes the most sense. On the other hand, with different bodies coming in and out of the lineup, you have to have some sort of consistency with something. You can't just keep, on a whim — that's a big deal when you change the starting lineup at this level.”

The celebratory vibes emanating from Las Vegas already feel like eons ago. Following Wednesday's loss, a dejected Davis (19 points, 14 rebounds) went as far as to say the Lakers need to “get back to having fun, playing for each other, playing together.”

The most alarming assessment, surprisingly, came from the soft-spoken Vincent, when asked what issues he observed while in street clothes.

“Travel's been tough, but I think we can just play harder, man, to be honest. I think we just gotta challenge ourselves a little bit and give a little more. And I think we'll come together. … Dec. 20 is not the end goal for us.”

“There's no break coming,” AD pointed out. “There's no help coming. There's no cavalry. We gotta do it within this locker room. We got everyone back … We just gotta get that one, get the spirits back up, and go from there.”

The schedule should force the Lakers to perk up. They travel to face the top-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves (20-6) on Thursday — possibly without Davis, who tweaked his ankle in Chicago — then the two-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder (17-8) before returning home for the Boston Celtics (20-6) on Christmas.

“It's gonna make us play,” said AD. “We're gonna have to, or they're gonna beat us pretty badly. Good competition for us to kind of get back in the swing of things. Gonna be three huge tests for us.”