There has never been a bigger loss for the Lakers than on Monday against the Wolves.

In addition to being the Lakers’ second straight game without Austin Reaves – among many others – and it being the second night in a row, it was also the fifth game in seven nights. And four of those games were on the road with an unusual travel schedule surrounding the holidays.

Honestly, you could have bet on the Lakers losing on Monday.

There were aspects of the game that could be a bit concerning going forward. But more than anything, the Lakers just looked exhausted, legless, with nothing left in the energy tank they could conjure up, and no one left on the bench to give them a spark.

So let’s dive into loss. As always, grades are based on each player’s expectations. The grade “B” represents the average performance of that player.

Rui Hachimura

29 minutes, 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4-5 FG, 0-1 3PT, 2-2 FT, -11

It will be difficult to analyze individual performances in such a poor game, but I think Rui put in a solid performance. He was one of the few people who felt like he was actively attacking and finishing at the rim.

Grade: B

LeBron James

31 minutes, 10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4-16 FG, 0-4 3PT, 2-4 FT, -28

There are a lot to take away from this game. The most important of these, in my opinion, is that LeBron can’t play 82 games. At least he shouldn’t.

His legs are clearly affected by travel, missing a full offseason, and a variety of other things, and that also impacts his jumping ability and possibly his decision-making as well. Even if he wants to play 82 games, he will be of little use to the Lakers in games where he performs like this and will be of even less use heading into the spring playoffs.

It’s time for him and Redick to sit down and come up with a more realistic plan.

Grade: F

Anthony Davis

33 minutes, 12 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, 4-14 FG, 0-2 3PT, 4-4 FT, -9

Monday marked one of the few times in memory that Rudy Gobert defeated Anthony Davis. I have to say, I don’t like it!

If anyone deserves a little mercy, it’s AD. He also had the best plus/minus of any starter, but that’s irrelevant when it’s a -9.

Grade: D

Dalton Knecht

28 minutes, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3-8 FG, 0-5 3PT, 0-2 FT, -13

If I were to make a guess, Dalton Knecht would be running into a brick wall right now after playing five games in seven days for the first time. In that matchup, he shot 5-18 from the field and 1-10 from the 3-point line, and most of it didn’t look bad.

Show up in Miami on Tuesday and come out strong against the Heat.

Grade: D-

D’Angelo Russell

34 minutes, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 8-12 FG, 4-5 3PT, -15

If you’re looking for a positive takeaway from this win, it’s that D’Lo looked so much like his 2023-24 self all season long. It was easily his best shooting game of the season and he seemed to be one of the few people with legs under him, which makes sense since he missed Sunday.

Grade: A-

Max Christie

22 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2-9 FG, 1-7 3PT, -7

After a positive result on Sunday, Christie took a step back on Monday.

He’s another player experiencing this kind of stretch as a rotation player for the first time, and as much as fans would like to point out that he’s a young player with young legs, that doesn’t mean he’s more used to minutes like this to play rounds for a week.

But it was still a bad game.

Grade: D-

Gabe Vincent

22 minutes, 5 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 2-5 FG, 1-4 3PT, -20

Well, so much for building up the performance on Sunday. In fact, it didn’t go supernova again.

I think that in this case there might have been an argument for keeping him in the starting lineup, but at some point he would always have to return to the bench and transfer that success to his regular role. He certainly didn’t do that on Monday.

Grade: D

Cam Reddish

11 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 0-1 FG, 2-2 FT, -14

I’m at the same point with Reddish as I was with Vincent. Neither should play big minutes, if any. Both should probably give younger players minutes, like a healthy Quincy Olivari. And if the Lakers themselves are fully healthy, neither should be in the rotation.

Grade: F

Armel Traore

15 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 2-4 FG, 0-1 3PT, -20

I think Traore could have a role in the team as a big man who you use when you really need a boost of energy. But even when he did that on Monday, it didn’t matter because the Lakers simply had nothing left to give.

Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if Traore still has more minutes left.

Grade: B-

Christian Koloko, Maxwell Lewis

Both only appeared in garbage time and lasted eight minutes each. Neither of them will get a grade tonight.

JJ Redick

I’m not entirely sure what to think of this game from a coaching perspective. I put a lot of the blame for this loss on the game plan and a situation that was out of the Lakers’ control. I’m not sure there was anyone JJ could have beaten in this game.

Grade: B

Inactive on Monday: Jarred Vanderbilt, Quincy Olivari, Christian Wood, Austin Reaves, Jaxson Hayes, Bronny James, Jalen Hood-Schifino

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.