On Saturday afternoon, the Cleveland Cavaliers gave up 148 points to the Oklahoma City Thunder in one of their most embarrassing losses of the season.It was the most amount of points a LeBron James-led team has ever given up and tied a Cavaliers record that has stood since 1972. Although Cleveland is now 27-18, the team has lost nine of their last 12 games and are possibly the league’s worst defensive club.Although injuries have certainly played a role in denying the Cavs an opportunity to gain chemistry, it’s undeniable that they’re going through a troubling rough patch at the moment.Is it simply a product of aging players? Is there a locker room issue? Are other teams simply better? Is there a schematic problem on the defensive end?What is going on?There are a lot of questions at this point and not many answers.Shockingly, after Saturday’s loss, LeBron indicated that coach Tyronn Lue’s future might not be set in stone in Cleveland, even after winning an NBA title in 2016.

“I would hope not, but really don’t know,” James told reporters when asked about whether or not Lue would be fired as a result of the team’s recent struggles, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with our team. I have no idea what conversations have been going on. I’ve been trying to stay as laser-sharp as I can to keep my guys ready to go out and play.” 

That isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of his coach.

LeBron continued, “Me personally, I've been trying to stay as laser-sharp as I can to keep my guys ready to go out and play. Obviously, it hasn't resulted in wins, but I got to stay as fresh mentally as much I can with the struggles. … I can't worry about job securities and trades and things of that nature.”

It’s worth mentioning that Lue’s firing would not be all that surprising. If you recall, Lue replaced former coach David Blatt when he was fired in January of 2016 despite getting off to a 30-11 record after having led the team to the Finals the year before. David Griffin, the former general manger of the club, was also let go this offseason after three Finals berths in a row.

Therefore, there’s an incredibly short leash in Cleveland and Lue should not feel very comfortable right now, considering the fact that the organization faces the harsh reality that LeBron could leave town for the second time if he’s not satisfied by the summer.

Lue had a generic answer about his team’s awful defensive showing after the game and couldn’t seem to explain it or come up with a potential solution.

"Yeah, I don't know," Lue admitted. "Not sure. But you look at the score and you score 124 points and to lose by 24 that's tough to follow. I just thought they attacked us in every which way. I thought one-on-one defense, pick-and-roll, transition, they got whatever they wanted. We gotta be better. It starts from top to bottom, everyone has to buy into what we're doing and we just have to be better.”

One player who seemed to be in Lue’s corner after the game was newcomer Isaiah Thomas, who said that the team’s players should take the blame for the loss, not the coaches.

"Tonight was not on the coaches, though. That's on us -- 150 points, I don't think I've been a part of that since my two All-Star games, so that's on us as players,” he noted.

Judging by the fact that he won a title two years ago and has had to juggle many different rotations so far this year, Lue will likely have some more time to figure things out, but if the struggles continue, the team will most likely have no issue pushing him out the door.