[Oram] Sources have indicated that the Lakers no longer believe they can win at a high level with Westbrook. They would prefer to wait until the offseason, when they could also include a 2029 pick. But the tone after Tuesday’s loss suggested the Lakers are in need of more immediate action.

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Sources have indicated that the Lakers no longer believe they can win at a high level with Westbrook alongside James and Davis, but prior to Tuesday the line of thinking was that the Lakers would be unwilling to wave the white flag and admit their summer blockbuster was a failure. Instead, they would prefer to wait until the offseason, when they could also include a 2029 pick in a potential deal for another max-contract player looking for a new home.

But the tone after Tuesday’s loss suggested the Lakers are in need of more immediate action. Could things be so dire that the Lakers would be better off including that ’27 pick in a swap now — say for Houston’s John Wall? — even if it means a lesser return? Desperation got the Lakers into this mess and it might take desperation to get them out.

Either way, whether it is by Thursday’s deadline or in the summer, the Lakers know they need to find their way out of the Russell Westbrook business.

One Lakers staffer who had reservations about the trade when it was made in July recently told The Athletic, “I didn’t think it would be this bad.”

Sources told The Athletic that inside the locker room, players see and feel the same problems as everyone else, perhaps never more clearly than after a non-competitive loss to the champs. They understand as well as anyone that the personnel on this joyless 26-29 team simply isn’t working.

Dennis Schröder, who, according to league sources, was up for returning to the Lakers as Westbrook’s backup before eventually signing with Boston for the mid-level exception with the Celtics. (Then there’s the deal the Lakers gave to Kendrick Nunn, who has not yet played this season due to a bone bruise in his right knee.)