Lakers' maddening play continues as Kawhi Leonard-less Raptors rout LeBron James and Co.

LOS ANGELES — Just when you thought the Los Angeles Lakers’ first season with LeBron James couldn’t get more maddening…

Magic Johnson finally addressed reports that he chewed out Lakers head coach Luke Walton last week for the team’s slow start, and his words figure to be scrutinized.

“I said it, Luke took it and we’re all good,” Johnson, president of operations for the Lakers, told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday night as tipoff approached for the Lakers’ game against the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center. “It’s no big deal.”

No big deal? Well, that depends on exactly what Johnson meant when he told the L.A. Times something else about Walton, in his third year of a five-year $25-million contract.

“He’s going to finish the season,” Johnson said, according to the L.A. Times. “Unless something drastic happens, which it won’t.”

More:Warriors' Steph Curry on record pace again: Are 500 3s possible?

Not everyone will be convinced of that after the Lakers lost to the Raptors, 121-107.

Because not long after Johnson wrapped up the interview, the Lakers trailed the Raptors by 31 points.

Less than 10 minutes into the game.

By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers trailed by 25 points, 42-17, in what ESPN reported was historically bad.

According to ESPN, the Lakers had never been outscored by more than 24 points in a first quarter in the shot-clock era (since 1954-55).

“They came out and hit us right in the mouth,’’ said James, who scored a season-low 18 points as the Lakers fell to 4-6.

It likely caught many by surprise. After all, on Saturday night the Lakers beat the Trail Blazers, 114-110, in Portland and snapped a 16-game losing streak against the Blazers in what prompted Walton to say this “shows that what we’re doing is working.’’

Stranger still, the Raptors (9-1) were without Kawhi Leonard, who is leading the team with 26.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. No matter, Toronto was up 41-10 with 2:22 left to play in the first quarter.

“I don’t know if we were tired from our game last night or what,’’ Walton said. “That’s not an excuse, but it felt like that in the first quarter and they jumped all over us.’’

This is the same team involved in fisticuffs with the Houston Rockets on the night of James' home debut at Staples Center. The same team that blew a 19-point lead against the Dallas Mavericks before holding on for a 114-113 victory last week. The same team that in its very next game watched a 20-point lead shrivel to five before holding off Portland.

On Sunday night, Walton also said news that Leonard would be held out because of a foot injury may have worked against the Lakers, who late in the fourth quarter pulled within 10 points but could get no closer.

“I’ve played in a lot of these games and I know what it’s like to think, ‘OK, this game just got a whole lot easier,’ ” Walton said. “In my experience, unfortunately, most of the time when a player like Kawhi sits out, that team ends up winning or at least they give a helluva run. We tried to explain that that’s part of how this works, but it doesn’t seem like we took that to heart.’’