The Los Angeles Lakers have lost four of their last five games to see their record fall to 4-4 in the new year. After a promising 3-0 start to the season, Los Angeles fell flat on its road trip.

They lost to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night, without the services of star Anthony Davis or Rui Hachimura. But one of the stories from the game was point guard D’Angelo Russell’s lack of playing time.

Russell had played pretty poorly to start the season and he saw some minutes against the Grizzlies, against the Detroit Pistons he played 33 minutes and against the Toronto Raptors he saw 32 minutes of play.

But against the Grizzlies, with Los Angeles missing several players, he only saw the court for 22 minutes. That includes six minutes of Russell on the court in the second half of the game.

Head coach JJ Redick was asked about it after the game and he delivered a clear message on his reasoning.

“Just the level of competition, the attention to detail, some of the things we talked about with him for a few weeks,” Redick said when asked why he limited Russell’s role in Memphis. “And sometimes he’s been really good with that stuff. And other times he just goes back to certain habits. But it wasn’t like a punishment. It was just for us to have a chance to winning this game was the route we wanted to take.

Russell had a strange time with the Lakers as he was constantly the subject of trade rumors. Los Angeles should once again attempt to move him at the trade deadline this year as his contract is expiring.

Although Russell gives the Lakers another primary ball handler on offense, he has seemed to shrink when the lights get brightest. This has caused all kinds of problems for this team and his defensive abilities are also causing different problems for the team.

This year, Russell is averaging only 12.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. But one of the biggest issues has been his 3-point shooting, as he only averages 29.2 percent from beyond the arch.

If Russell fails to turn things around, his days will be numbered on the field. Los Angeles will likely try to trade him, but he could improve his trade stock by performing better throughout the season.

More Lakers: Lakers’ LeBron James posts heartfelt message to daughter after Donald Trump wins presidency