Lakers News: LeBron James Suffers Worst Loss of Career in 42-Point Pacers Win

Things have taken a turn for the worst for LeBron James and the 27-27 Los Angeles Lakers.

The Purple and Gold were embarrassed in a 136-94 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, and ESPN Stats & Info noted the 42-point deficit was the biggest blowout loss of the King's career.

It also pointed out seven of the 11 losses by 40 or more points in Lakers history have come since 2014.

To suggest minds were likely elsewhere for the Lakers during the loss would be an understatement given the dysfunction around the franchise.

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported the team pulled out of Anthony Davis trade discussions because the New Orleans Pelicans made "outrageous" demands and wanted six to eight draft picks in a potential deal.

He noted the Lakers offered Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Ivica Zubac, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, two first-round picks and a willingness to take on Solomon Hill's contract, meaning those players were playing with the knowledge the team would have preferred to trade them in exchange for the Pelicans big man.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Lakers front office would still engage in talks and are waiting for a counteroffer.

The Pacers crowd was keenly aware of the situation:

What's more, LaVar Ball, the father of Lonzo, appeared on the Doug & Wolf show in Arizona and called head coach Luke Walton the "worst coach" his son has ever had. He also said Walton gave his son a "loser" mentality.

Elsewhere, Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee denied they had a heated exchange with Walton after Saturday's loss to the Golden State Warriors, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

This all comes after ESPN's Jackie MacMullan appeared on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast (h/t Chicco Nacion of theScore) and said: "It's clear to me, and probably to you, Brian, that LeBron's camp would prefer a coaching change—they're not too subtle about that. Not LeBron, but all the people around LeBron. There's plenty of them and they've made it known."

On the court, the Lakers had 19 turnovers and appeared lost on the defensive end against a Pacers team playing without All-Star Victor Oladipo. They had the look of a team distracted by off-court storylines rather than one preparing for a late-season playoff push.

Los Angeles holds the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference and is closer to the 12th-seeded Dallas Mavericks than the top eight following Tuesday's defeat.