More than two weeks after winning the NBA’s first-ever in-season tournament, the Los Angeles Lakers have fallen to no. 9 in the Western Conference standings.

The LeBron James-starred squad has only won two out of their last eight games, with the latest loss coming from a Christmas Day defeat against their lifelong rivals, the Boston Celtics.

This, according to the four-time NBA Champion, is one of the signs why the Lakers are still far from when they want to be when it comes to how they want to play on the court.

“I don’t think we’re where we want to be to compete with the top teams until we continue to be better and better, and continue to work on our habits,” James said in a post-game interview with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

“For us, we’re still trying to figure our situation out as far as how we want to continue to attack each game,” said James, who is currently averaging 25.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists.

Also playing a factor in this is how the Lakers have not gained consistency because of injuries, James explained.

“I don’t think we’re healthy right now,” LeBron, who will turn 39 in a couple of days, said.

The Lakers have endured injuries to some of their rotational players in James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, Cam Reddish, Jaxson Hayes, and Gabe Vince at times during the year.

This, according to LeBron, is the gap between them and the best teams right now.

“I think the league’s best teams right now, the Minnesota [Timberwolves], they’re pretty much healthy; OCK [Thunder], they’re pretty much healthy, besides [Josh] Giddey; and [the] Boston [Celtics], they’re fully healthy,” he said.

Still, there are 51 games to go in the regular season, which is why James is keeping his hopes up for his squad, as they continue their journey in seeking banner no. 18 for the Purple and Gold.

“We’ll be better,” he assured. (ABS-CBN News)