Ham's comments come on the heels of a 139-116 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday.

After a third straight loss, the Los Angeles Lakers have fallen to 2-8 this season. Their most recent loss was a 139-116 loss to the Utah Jazz.

Their ineffectiveness on defense is a main cause of concern but head coach Darvin Ham vowed that a turnaround for the team is on the horizon.

Ham told reporters: “I would say this, man. And write it, quote it, however.

“This may be happening now at the outset of what we're trying to force to be a culture change in terms of getting us back to being highly competitive on a highly consistent basis, but it's not going to always be like this.”

The Los Angeles Lakers were down LeBron James because of discomfort in his left foot for Monday’s game but that isn’t the only player the Lakers were missing.

The Lakers were down two other starters in Lonnie Walker and Patrick Beverley due to a non-COVID illness that swept through the locker room.

Ham continued: “There is a process involved where we have to go through tough times. Like, I want to bottle this up. I want to embrace it.

“I want to have it and store it so when things are turned around and we get too comfortable and we start complaining about some problems that are not even necessarily problems -- problems that winning teams go through -- I want to be able to reflect on these times.”

With James sidelined, Anthony Davis led the Lakers in scoring with 29 points and Russell Westbrook contributed 22 points off the bench.

The Lakers will face the Los Angeles Clippers on the road Wednesday night.