These Lakers are a cult favorite, just like the Clippers of the early 2000s

The 2016 Lakers, in contrast to their identity during the dark days of Byron and Kobe, are fun.

A roster powered by promising young players and led by one of the league’s fastest rising head coaches in Luke Walton is re-energizing fans of the Purple and Gold. After years of suffering, there’s even hope for a playoff run.

However, it’s not the first time that a youth movement took Los Angeles basketball by storm.

In the 2001-2002 NBA season, the Los Angeles Clippers team led by Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson, Lamar Odom, Corey Maggette and Elton Brand, none of whom had more than two years of NBA experience, finished ninth in the Western Conference. Losing 10 of their last 13, the Clippers ended their season just five games behind the eighth-seeded Utah Jazz.

Still, Clippers longtime announcer Ralph Lawler, who joined then-San Diego Clippers in 1978, described the season as “magical.”

“They were fresh and fun,” wrote Lawler in a piece for NBA.com, “And they played the game with a special sense of joy.”

Sound familiar? Take a look at these three major similarities between the Lakers of now and the 01-02 Clippers.

Accepting the New Age

In 2000, the Clippers selected Darius Miles with the third overall pick in the NBA Draft. Kenyon Martin and Stromile Swift went first and second, respectively.

The Clippers accepted a new direction with the drafting of Miles, who ESPN described as the “wild card” of the draft because of his lack of experience. It marked a willingness to adapt to the increasingly fast-paced game of the early 2000s.

The Lakers accomplished the same goal by taking D’Angelo Russell over Jahlil Okafor with the second pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. In an increasingly guard-dominant league, the Lakers, a franchise known for dominant centers, willingly passed on the draft’s most developed post-scorer. It was a rare move of progress for a team that seemed to be content with sticking in the mud.

Progress on Offense

After embracing a changing league, both teams saw considerable improvements in practically every offensive category. The 01-02 Clippers, who ranked 21st in the league in points per game the previous year, jumped five spots and ranked 15th with 95.7 points per game. Additionally, the team moved at a more appropriate pace (18th in in 01-02, 22nd in 00-01) and scored far more points per 100 possessions (they ranked 11th in 01-02, 18th in 00-01).

The difference a year and a new head coach is making on these Lakers is equally shocking. In the 2015-16 season, the Lakers ranked dead last in points per game, 29th in offensive rating, and 18th in pace of play. Choosing to dump Byron Scott and hire Luke Walton to lead the way, the 2016-17 Lakers are now second in the league in points per game, fourth in pace, and ninth in points scored per 100 possessions.

The recipe is clear: Embrace the youth, and offense will come.

Magnets to Media

Both possessing a grasp of the in-vogue styles of the time, the 01-02 Clippers and the 2016 Lakers represented not only a new era of the NBA, but also millennial Zeitgeist. To compare, take a look at their respective magazine features.

In 2002, the Clippers core graced the cover of the 57th issue of SLAM. The early 2000s was a a period of time where, strangely enough, rocking backwards or oversized jerseys meant you were really cool. Miles, Odom, and Brand got it, and so does baby Showtime.

This jubilant team shot ran as the lead art in GQ’s 2016 “NBA’s All-New All-Stars Try On This Season’s Boldest Sweaters.” On the surface, this seems uncool. Hell, it was October, and the kids are wearing ugly Christmas sweaters. But, in a world of youth hipsters, the “cool kids” dress like grandparents and the not-so-cool dress normally.

Both team’s captured media attention in the same manner, showing a willingness to serve as their generations’ fashion archetypes.

And that deserves a head tap.

Because of a cheap front office and poor trade decisions, the young core was disbanded. Miles, Richardson and Odom were all off the Clippers roster by the start of the 2004-2005 NBA season.

The young Lakers have the benefit of being able to look back at what plagued the Clippers of yesteryear. Through their failures, the Clippers provided the Lakers with a road map of what not to do.

Excessive Clubbing

According to Adam Figman of SLAM, Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson were quite privy to the L.A. nightlife. In the documentary Youngest Guns, which profiled the lives of Miles and Richardson, Figman notes a telling statement from Miles.

“When we first got to L.A. last year, it was like, Man, we in L.A. with all these beautiful women — we finna be in the club almost every night,” said Miles. “We’d leave games, go straight to the club, then show up at practice the next morning in the same outfit we wore to the game.”

So far, the Lakers core seems to be taking the opposite approach. According to Mark Medina of the O.C. Register, a group including Russell, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. “cut their vacations short” to spend their Monday-Thursday mornings in the practice facility weight room. The group even created a nickname, dubbing themselves the “Breakfast Club,” because of their early workout times.

Trade Now

The fatal flaw that brought the downfall of the early 2000s Clippers came when the team dealt Miles to Cleveland in exchange for savvy point guard Andre Miller. On paper, the core-breaking trade is puzzling, but consider the Clippers’ history.

It was 2002 at the time of the Miles trade, and the Clippers had not finished with a winning record since Ron Harper and Danny Manning carried the team to a playoff-birth in 1992. The Clippers desperately needed to win, but, unfortunately, the Miller deal didn’t pan out.

As documented by Steve Perrin of Clips Nation, Miller never quite fit in with the Clippers. He “barely spoke” to beloved Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler and averaged significantly fewer points and assists per game than his two previous seasons in Cleveland. After playing just a single season with the team, Miller left the Clippers to join the Nuggets in free agency.

The Lakers benefit from not needing to win now because, unlike the Clippers, they’ve already brought 16 championships home to L.A. Despite on-court woes, the Lakers brand will always remain, evident by the 2016 Forbes franchise ranking that listed the Lakers behind only the Knicks in NBA team value. Therefore, the young guys have time to develop, and the front office can look to lure top-talent players in free agency without forfeiting assets.

Restricted free agency mistakes

The Clippers’ core came to its ultimate end by letting Richardson and Odom leave as restricted free agents. In 2003, L.A. chose to not match Miami’s offer sheet on Odom, and Lamar joined Pat Riley and company on a six-year, $65 million deal.

A year later, in 2004, the Clippers declined to match an offer sheet on Richardson, completing the youth purge. Donald Sterling, then-owner of the franchise, was notoriously cheap. According to Paul Coro of the AZ Central, Tom Chambers, four-time NBA All Star and a former San Diego Clipper, gave a scathing recount of Sterling’s financial practices.

“He was always slippery, slimy and sleazy about paying people, said Chambers. “We had to fight for checks. We had to go to a different hotel every time because he never paid the bill.”

Fortunately, the Lakers are capable of being big spenders, and the team is already making it a priority to lock up restricted free agents. This offseason, RFA Clarkson agreed to a four-year, $50 million deal to stay in Los Angeles. His commitment to the team stems largely from the offseason hiring of Luke Walton.

“I want to be here in L.A. — a place where I can call home — and leave a legacy,” said Clarkson according to Jovan Buha of ESPN. “The hiring makes it even better.”

For a franchise that’s been in turmoil since the Dwight Howard saga of 2010, it finally looks like the Lakers are turning a corner. Still, Los Angeles can and should learn from the early 2000s Clippers team that tried to make the turn, but crashed in the process.