After losing 132-111 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers are now 27-35 on the NBA season and just one full game up on the New Orleans Pelicans for the 9-seed in the Western Conference. 

Once picked at the beginning of the season to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals, the Lakers have really struggled this season and are now on the verge of missing the playoffs entirely. 

Between having durability concerns on their roster and just an overall lack of talent, the Lakers have struggled to find any consistency from anyone not named LeBron James. 

NBA

The 3 Best Superteams The Lakers Can Create By Trading Anthony Davis And Russell Westbrook

At 37-years-old, James has tried to carry this franchise all year long but has been unsuccessful in his attempts to do so. With Anthony Davis healthy, the Lakers would have a better chance to lock up a play-in tournament spot, but Davis is currently sidelined with a right ankle/foot sprain, and even with him on the floor this season, the Lakers are just 17-20 this season. 

Nothing has gone right all year long for the Lakers and now with just 20 games remaining on their schedule, it is “do-or-die” time for LeBron James and Co. 

If they are to make the playoffs and at the very least, the play-in tournament at this rate, the Lakers are going to have to finish better than .500 down the stretch run of the season, which could be very tough for them to do. 

According to Tankathon, the Lakers have the second-hardest remaining schedule out of all the teams in the league, and 7 and their next 10 games are going to be on the road. 

Things are looking very grim for the Lakers right now and while they can certainly turn things around in a hurry, all indications point to their season-ending sooner than everyone had predicted. 

So is there anything the Lakers can possibly try or do in attempts to be better over their last 20 games this season? Here are three adjustments that they could consider making during the stretch run of the regular season. 

Bring Russell Westbrook Into Games Off-The-Bench

Trading for Russell Westbrook is looking like one of the biggest mistakes the Lakers have ever made, especially since they gave up three key secondary talents in Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell to acquire him, all of which are better players than the Lakers have outside of their three All-Star talents.