LOS ANGELES — Finally, the Lakers are seeing their case count moving in the right direction.

The team learned Tuesday morning that Dwight Howard and Talen Horton-Tucker had tested out of the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols. Horton-Tucker started against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night, while the Lakers held Howard out of the first half.

The Lakers still have four players in the protocols: Malik Monk, Avery Bradley, Austin Reaves and Kent Bazemore. Head coach Frank Vogel and assistant coach Phil Handy also remain in the protocols.

One of the main inconveniences of losing players during their recent three-game road trip was that the Lakers have been spread out in quarantine across the country. The team said Bradley and Handy returned to Los Angeles (from Dallas) on Saturday, while Reaves and Monk were expected to return (from Minnesota) on Tuesday. As of Tuesday morning, the team said Vogel and Bazemore were still in Chicago.

The NBA as a whole has now seen more than 100 players enter protocols in December. Assistant coach David Fizdale, acting as the interim head coach, said even though the Lakers had lost their previous two games, they were intent on not letting their depth issues creep into their mental approach.

“This is not comfortable or convenient for anybody,” Fizdale said. “This is the world going through this. Let’s just weather the storm, figure out who is playing and we play. Figure out who is coaching, and we coach. That’s what it is and accept what it is in front of us and no excuses. Let’s go out there and play our butts off.”

MASON JONES, JEMERRIO JONES OFFICIALLY ADDED

You could say the Lakers are trying to keep up with their Joneses.

With four players still out due to the protocols, All-Star big man Anthony Davis out for at least a month with a knee injury and Kendrick Nunn still working his way back from a preseason injury, the Lakers made two deals on the margins of the roster, adding depth with guard Mason Jones and wing Jemerrio Jones.

Mason Jones was added as a two-way contract player, with the Lakers waiving Chaundee Brown to create the spot to call him up. Jones has been playing for the South Bay Lakers this season, averaging 18.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.2 steals. He has played in 32 career NBA games. Given the COVID-19 outbreak affecting the league, two-way contract players have been given unlimited days to play for their NBA clubs (previously, they could only spend 40 days with the parent club through the end of the G League season).

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Jemerrio Jones is the eighth Laker to rejoin the franchise during this year for a nonconsecutive season. He previously played at the tail end of the 2018-19 season, appearing in six games. Jones was signed on a 10-day contract under the NBA’s new hardship exemption, which allows teams additional flexibility for 10-day deals while dealing with protocol-related absences. He’s been playing for the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate.

Fizdale implied that both Joneses would be used on a limited basis, but he hoped that, if called upon, they would raise the energy level of a veteran team that needs to do more dirty work.

“Guys that, again, can maybe help us get a few more possessions off the glass, loose balls, run the floor and get some cheap baskets,” he said. “Jemerrio is a very switchable kid. A kid that can guard multiple positions and rebounds the heck out of the ball and obviously that’s something that we’ve been talking about getting better at. And (Mason), he can put the ball in the hole and make plays and I won’t be afraid to let him do that, comfortably.”