Coming off a hard-fought loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night, the Los Angeles Lakers dropped the ball in losing to to the bottom-dwelling Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

Despite 27 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds from LeBron James, the Lakers continued to struggle to defend and shoot from the perimeter. The Suns shot 65.0 percent from the field in the first quarter and simply seemed to consistently beat Los Angeles down the floor.

With the loss on Saturday, the Lakers have fallen to 30-33 and are now 4.5 games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The sense of urgency surrounding the club ever since the trade deadline is settling in, especially for some of the younger players such as Kyle Kuzma:

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“Obviously there's something wrong with this team, and it's up to us to try to fix it, but not really sure right now,” said Kuzma, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

LeBron has questioned the resolve of his fellow teammates on numerous occasions, though he was more resigned in postgame interviews. The Lakers are just 4-7 in the last 11 games featuring LBJ, threatening to turn this season into a massive disappointment.

For the Lakers, the return of Lonzo Ball cannot come soon enough. Ball has easily been the best defender for a team that currently ranks 24th in the NBA in points allowed per game.

Should Los Angeles fail to climb back into the race, it will be the first time that LeBron has not made the NBA playoffs in 14 years.