Los Angeles was led by 21-time All-Star LeBron James who contributed 33 points, nine rebounds, and five assists on 10-for-15 shooting.

Doncic struggled with efficiency in the loss.

Shooting 6-for-17 from the field and scoring just 19 points, it was his first time scoring under 20 since Feb. 25, his fifth game with the Lakers.

Doncic previously hurt his elbow against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday, but claimed it didn’t contribute to his poor shooting in Thursday’s game.

After a performance Doncic deemed “unacceptable,” he went on to detail his frustration with his performance.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic

© Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

“Very [frustrated], it’s always frustrating when you can’t help your team like that,” said Doncic (via Spectrum SportsNet). “But I think it’s not always about scoring, you can do some other stuff on the court. Assist, rebound, defense, all of that, so just trying to help in other ways.”

While many chalked this up to an off-night for Doncic, Skip Bayless pointed out his physical appearance with a three-word message on X.

“Luka looking thick,” he wrote in a post that has since tallied over five million views.

This loss was an important one for the Western Conference playoff race, as it dropped the Lakers back down to the fourth seed, and lifted the Warriors back into fifth. Still, just 2.5 games separate the third-seeded Denver Nuggets and the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers.

With just six games remaining in the regular season for the Lakers, it seems unrealistic that they can jump the Rockets for the second seed (3.5 games back), so they must win games to avoid dropping down to the Play-In Tournament.

The Lakers have competed in the Play-In Tournament in three of the last four seasons.