Sources -- Los Angeles Lakers feel urgency to make changes as trade deadline nears

LOS ANGELES — A troubling loss to the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night led to an uneasy admission within the Los Angeles Lakers' locker room: The roster is not working, and something must be done to get the team back on course with Thursday's trade deadline fast approaching.

The suspicion had been mounting for weeks, if not months, for a Lakers team built with a title in mind, sources told ESPN. Thrashing along at 26-29 following the 131-116 loss to the Bucks, the clarity of the acknowledgment was tied to timing, sources said.

L.A. trailed the Bucks by as many as 30 points as two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo started 11-for-11 from the field en route to a dominant 44-point, 14-rebound, eight-assist, two-block night.

«It tells me we ain't on their level,» LeBron James said flatly when asked if the loss revealed anything about where the Lakers were at. «I mean, I could have told you that before the game.»

Indeed, when asked about the showdown with Milwaukee following Monday's practice, James didn't shy away from the massive gap between the Bucks (35-21) and L.A.

«Obviously you always kind of use games to see where you are at that moment. But we know where we are at this moment: sitting at a couple, few games under .500,» he said. «Haven't played the basketball that we'd like to play.»

The brief period of time that L.A. did play up to the level it aspires to be at came in the fourth quarter with Russell Westbrook on the bench.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel, for the second game in a row and third time this season, pulled the point guard down the stretch. Westbrook was subbed out with two minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter against the Bucks and did not get back in the game.

L.A. outscored