Ultimately, if the Los Angeles Lakers want to salvage their 2021-22 season and make some unexpected noise in the playoffs, their path will quickly lead them to the Footprint Center. Inconveniently, the Phoenix Suns happen to own the Los Angeles Lakers, at the moment.

Phoenix torched the Lakers on Sunday like the Arizona heat in August. The Suns came out sizzling — scoring 48 points in the first quarter on their way to 79 in the first half and 140 overall. The Lakers were run off the court within five minutes.

Frank Vogel called his team's two-way effort “unacceptable”, their shot selection “terrible”, and said he had “never seen” a team score nearly 20 fast-break points in the first quarter (the Suns had 17).

The Lakers were without Anthony Davis and the Suns were sans Chris Paul. Regardless, these two teams looked like they were playing two different sports. Certainly, only one of them resembled a Good Basketball Team — and it wasn't the squad with the first player in NBA history to join the 30K (and 20K, and 10K) points/10K rebound/10K assist club.

Since AD injured his groin in Game 4 of last year's first-round series — and since this indelible moment — with Los Angeles up 2-1, Phoenix has won six straight against their Pacific Division rivals by an average margin of 18 points. Their three victories over Los Angeles in 2021-22 have come by 10, 18, and 29.

Devin Booker was right to chuckle about AD's pregame take that the Suns “got away with one” in last year's playoffs, even if his analogies were a bit quirky.

The Lakers are now 2-7 since the All-Star break — and both wins required 50-burgers from LeBron. They've lost 10 straight road contests. Afterward, a frustrated Malik Monk, for the umpteenth time, called out his team (and himself) for uninspired effort.

“We just gotta try. Sometimes I don’t think we try enough,” Monk assesssed. “We gotta get it together, man, that’s all I got to say. Sick of saying that sh*t, though.”

Tellingly, LeBron did not disagree.

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“When we get down, we've lost so many games that we feel like we can't get out of the hole at times,” LeBron said when asked about Monk's comment. “As a collective unit, we haven't been in the foxhole to be able to say, ‘OK we can get out of this.'”

The good news on Sunday was Vogel's revelation that Davis will begin light shooting on Monday. AD expressed optimism that he would return for the end of the season. (“100% maybe”, Vogel said about Davis' chances to play again this season, in one of my favorite quotes of the year.)

LeBron, while excited to get the big fella back, admitted that Davis' return won't compensate for the team's lack of chemistry, consistent effort, and resiliency — three traits Monty Williams' group surely inhibits.

“It puts a band-aid on some things, but, I mean, we just haven’t had enough chemistry, enough time with our group to be able to know exactly who we are and who we can become,” LeBron said. “It’s going to be challenging for us. AD definitely helps, but it’s not the answer to all the questions.”

The Lakers are not just playing like a team resigned to their underwhelming fate and ready to get an early start to the summer — they're (reportedly) saying it out loud. LeBron already admitted that this year's team can't hang with true contenders. Their latest non-competitive showing against the West's best team was yet another validation of that reality.

“I can't tell you why we didn't apply all the things we went over and the things we knew we were supposed to do,” Monk said. “We gotta throw that one out the window.”

The Lakers are not just playing like a team resigned to their underwhelming fate and ready to get an early start to the summer — they're (reportedly) saying it out loud. LeBron knows this year's team can't hang with true contenders. Their latest non-competitive showing against the West's best was yet another validation of that reality.

Here's the other grim truth facing Los Angeles beyond their road-heavy remaining schedule, mainly comprised of playoff-caliber opponents: should they advance out of the Play-In game from the No. 9 or 10 seed (requiring two wins), they're almost certain to face the Suns in a first-round rematch. Justifiably, the Lakers believe they can win any individual game with LeBron and AD, but do they actually believe they can flip a switch and compete with Phoenix in a series?

If Sunday's showing was any indication, the answer is a hard no.