They have been inconsistent and rarely entertaining, and now Kobe Bryant has used Sunday’s season-worst performance in Phoenix to express his discontent with team management over the treatment of Gasol, whose name continues to come up in trade speculation despite helping the team make three NBA Finals appearances and win back-to-back titles.

“Basketball is such an emotional game, you got to be able to have all of yourself in the game and invested in the game,” Bryant said. “It’s just tough for a player to give his all when you don’t know if you’re going to be here tomorrow. So I’d rather them not trade him at all. If they were going to do something, I wish they would just . . . do it. If they’re not going to do it, come out and say you’re not going to do it.”

Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak issued a statement on Monday night that left Gasol’s situation in more doubt.

“As General Manager of the Lakers, I have a responsibility to ownership, our fans and the players on this team to actively pursue opportunities to improve the team for this season and seasons to come,” Kupchak wrote. “To say publicly that we would not do this would serve no purpose and put us at a competitive disadvantage. Taking such a course of action at this time would be a disservice to ownership, the team and our many fans.”

Bryant and Gasol both want clarity as it relates to Gasol’s future, but that might not be enough to calm what has been an unsettling period since Jackson walked away. Apparent coach-in-waiting Brian Shaw was passed over for Brown, a successful coach in Cleveland whose desires to remain humble and “save a little bit of money every once in a while” included him lugging an iron and ironing board to his first preseason game with the NBA’s most glamorous franchise.

The nixed deal for Paul became more awkward when David Stern redirected him to fellow Staples Center tenant, the Clippers, whom the Lakers trail in the Pacific Division. Gasol has also had difficulty adjusting to Brown’s new defensive-oriented system and failed to make the all-star team as he has, at times, been an afterthought in an offense that appears to be predicated on Bryant’s heroics during mostly low-scoring games.

The Lakers averaged 101.5 points last season, but the new Slowtime offense has resulted in the team ranking in the bottom third in points scored, averaging 93, and reaching 100 points just four times this season.