LOS ANGELES — A new item of concern rocketed to the top of the Lakers’ list. Will they play beyond the regular season?

Doubt continued to blanket the Lakers during a turnover-filled 123-95 loss Sunday to the New Orleans Pelicans at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers lost for the fourth time in five games and saw their lead slip to 2.5 games over New Orleans and Portland for ninth place in the Western Conference. The top six West teams automatically qualify for playoffs while seven through 10 take part in the relatively new play-in tournament.

The Lakers (27-33) suddenly aren’t that far from 11th place. And they have the second-hardest schedule the rest of the way.

They were booed by their fans midway through the third quarter while trailing by 19, and it somehow got worse.

They committed far too many turnovers (23) and were way too pliant on defense, in case the Pelicans’ 44-point third quarter didn’t hammer home the issue.

“We weren’t very good on either end tonight,” Lakers Coach Frank Vogel said. “You have 23 turnovers, you’re not going to win.”

Russell Westbrook’s game was a microcosm of the Lakers as a whole. He scored 16 points but was wildly unbalanced after that, making only five of 15 shots and committing seven turnovers with only one assist.

“One of those nights,” said Westbrook, who has only two assists in two games since the All-Star break.

The Lakers had a staggering 16 turnovers in the first half — including six by Westbrook and five by LeBron James — and trailed by 11 going into the break.

The third quarter was probably the Lakers’ worst this season. They missed all nine of their three-point shots and let the Pelicans rip through them for a 95-65 lead going into the fourth quarter.

CJ McCollum scored 22 points and ex-Lakers forward Brandon Ingram added 19 for the Pelicans, who improved to 25-36. They play the Lakers two more times before the end of the regular season.

James scored 32 points, the beginning and end of the good numbers for the Lakers. He focused instead on his seven turnovers after the game.

“I could have been a lot better for sure,” James said.

Reserve guard Malik Monk has been a revelation this season for the Lakers, recently incurring the best six-week stretch of his five-year career. His last five games, however, have been a struggle. He was scoreless Sunday for the first time since October.

The Lakers’ schedule won’t do them any favors between now and the regular-season finale on April 10. Their next three games are at Crypto.com Arena, including a designated road tilt against the Clippers, before they hit the road for 13 of their last 19 games.

How do they bounce back from here?

“I don’t have that answer for you. I wish I did,” Westbrook said. “Right now, we’ve just got to try to find a way to get a win.”