MINNEAPOLIS — LeBron James came off a Dalton Knecht screen near the right corner and shot a wide-open 3-pointer near the wing.

The shot flew left, several meters from the basket.

The airball was James’ fourth consecutive miss from deep on the night – and his 19th consecutive three-point miss. The streak spanned four games and began on November 26, when James made his final 3-point attempt in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers’ bottom ten defense has been the problem for most of the season. But lately it’s been their offense that’s been costing them games. And James’ performance – a season-low 10 points on 4 of 16 shooting and six turnovers – was emblematic of the Lakers’ offensive woes in their 109-80 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

Los Angeles’ 80 points marked a season low and fewest in a game since they scored 73 points on Jan. 22, 2017. Their fifth loss in their last seven games dropped them to 12-9.

“I’ve never seen us play like we did at the beginning of the year,” coach JJ Redick said. “I mean, I have to spend all day tomorrow with my staff trying to figure out how we can fix this.”

The Lakers entered the contest ranked 26th in offensive rating over their last five games. This dates back to the loss to Denver on November 23rd, in which the Lakers were throttled 70-39 in the second half. That was the turning point for her, Redick said.

Since then, the Lakers have been defeated by the Suns and Timberwolves and also lost to the Thunder.

“I said it was an aberration,” Redick said of the second-half performance in the loss at Denver. “I told the group that. I told you that. It’s looking more and more like it’s not an anomaly.”

The 39-year-old James was one of the main culprits for the Lakers’ offensive woes. Aside from his rebounding and playmaking – he’s averaged 7.2 rebounds and 8.7 assists over the last six games – he’s struggled shooting and managing the ball. James is experiencing one of the worst slumps of his career: He is shooting 39.8 percent overall and just 10 percent on 3s (3 of 30).

“It’s everything,” James said. “It’s the rhythm. The last three or four games I just felt like I was getting out of rhythm.”

The Lakers topped 28 points in his 31 minutes on Monday – the worst mark for the team – and were outscored by 111 points with James on the court this season (also the worst mark for the team).

Redick attributed James’ poor performance against Minnesota to the size of the Timberwolves’ frontcourt – a trend in the Laker’s recent opponents and losses. James shot less than 45 percent in all six games.

“They’re a big team,” Redick said. “We’ve played a lot of these teams recently. Last night there were three basically 2.10 meter tall players in the starting line-up. (Jaden) McDaniels, (Julius) Randle, (Naz) Reid, (Rudy) Gobert, they’re a great team. If you stagnate against them, they will cause you problems.”

As for a possible solution to his crisis, James’ answer was simple.

“Work,” James said. “Just work. That’s all.”

However, there is a possibility that the team will approach its workload more strategically. When asked if James’ stated goal of playing in all 82 games was realistic and sustainable for the 22-year veteran, Redick said he wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know that it’s in his best interest or our best interest for him to do that, but if he’s good and he’s feeling good, he should play,” Redick said. “But of course we want to do it as well as possible.”

James, who recently passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,797 games) for the most games between the regular season and playoffs combined (1,800 and counting), doubled his chances of playing in all 82 games.

“That’s a goal, but we’ll see,” James said. “That’s something I’m not discussing right now.”

To be clear, it’s not just James who’s been having problems lately.

Anthony Davis scored a season-low 12 points on 4 of 14 shooting against Minnesota. Knecht had his second straight game with a single-digit score. In the last two games, he scored 12 points on 5 of 18 shooting. No substitute player scored more than five points against the Timberwolves.

The Lakers have shot less than 30 percent of their 3s in three straight games and have not scored more than 104 points in five of their previous six games.

“Our offense is terrible right now,” James said.

The Lakers have sorely missed Austin Reaves’ shot creation and playmaking in the last two games.

Redick acknowledged that the coaching staff may have gone too far recently by emphasizing the defensive side of the floor in practice, shootarounds, film sessions and strategic adjustments. The plan going forward is to find a better balance between the two sides of the ball.

“I really think we’ve gotten better defensively,” Redick said. “And I think we put a lot of time into defense as a team. And that’s the nature of the NBA season. You don’t have much time. The things you emphasize will hopefully make you more proficient. And sometimes when you don’t emphasize something or you don’t work on something because you don’t necessarily have time, or you think you’re good at it and you think you’re ready for it, then you just slip up. We have to clean this up.”

At the quarter of the regular season, the Lakers are the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. They rank ninth in offensive rating, 24th in defensive rating and 20th in net rating. They are 5-8 against teams over .500 and 7-1 against teams under .500.

The most important voices each expressed their respective views on the Lakers’ season so far.

Redick called the first quarter of the season “uneven and inconsistent.” James said he expects an up-and-down start given the changes in the coaching staff, system, starting lineup and rotation.

“It is what it is,” James said. “That’s our record and we need to continue to improve on both ends of the floor. And it’s hard. The West is tough and we know it.”

Davis offered perhaps the most honest assessment, highlighting the ups and downs the group has faced over a month and a half into the season before issuing a challenge to the locker room.

“Sometimes we look like a team that can compete with anyone, and sometimes we look like a team that looks terrible and isn’t going to do anything this season,” Davis said. “So we just have to figure out what team we want to be for the rest of the season.”

(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)