LeBron James on Lakers' Injuries After Loss to Rockets: 'We're Very Depleted'

A blowout loss to the Houston Rockets has the Los Angeles Lakers sitting at 3-5 and doing some soul searching to figure out how to turn around their rough start to the 2023-24 season.

"I mean, we can't build cohesion if we don't have our unit," LeBron James told reporters after the 124-98 loss. "It's that simple. It's just, we're very depleted on the injury side."

The Lakers played Wednesday night without Anthony Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes, Gabe Vincent and Jalen Hood-Schifino due to injuries. They rank among the most injury-riddled teams in the NBA less than a month into the season.

Wednesday's loss was the third straight for the Lakers, and they'll need a win in Phoenix on Friday to avoid getting swept in their four-game road trip. James has played at least 35 minutes in five of the team's eight games this season, a departure from the plan to limit his regular-season minutes.

Two of the three games where James did not hit the 35-minute mark were blowout losses—not exactly the reason the Lakers were hoping to use to avoid running the 38-year-old into the ground.

"I think we just need to relax and figure out where the root of where we're going to start trending in the right direction," Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell said. "And I think getting healthy first is one. Two, just playing for one another. I think that's the first start: having that mentality we're going to play for each other and just make things easier for each other."

The Lakers currently rank last in the NBA in three-point percentage (29.6) and are averaging a disappointing 109.0 points per game. Their -7.3 points differential is currently the third-worst in the Western Conference behind the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz.