Nick 'Swaggy P' Young Providing Necessary Spark in Los Angeles Lakers Season

Brash, shot-happy and infinitely quotable, Nick Young is lighting up a depressingly dark Los Angeles Lakers season and making sure everyone is along for the ride.

After a stunning upset win against the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 23, with Kobe Bryant sitting out to rest, Young was quizzed about how that energy could carry over upon the superstar's return.

“Pretty much going to have to tell Kobe to pass me the ball, pass us the ball, you know,” came the answer, per Lakers.com. “Tell him to take the back seat for a little bit. He can be ‘Driving Miss Daisy,’ and I can be Miss Daisy and drive.”

That’s how the self-styled "Swaggy P" rolls these days—a nonstop extravaganza of tongue-in-cheek interviews, fashion endorsements and a romance with American Music Award-winning hip-hop star Iggy Azalea, with whom he recently purchased a six-bedroom, $3.45 million house in the San Fernando Valley.

And then there’s the blue 1962 Chevy Impala ragtop Azalea gifted Young for Christmas.

In other words, life is good. Signed to a four-year contract worth just over $21 million this summer, the 29-year-old swingman is taking up where he left off last season—as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate for the purple and gold.

There was a slight hitch during training camp—the ebullient baller tore a tendon in his thumb while trying to steal the rock from Bryant. The injury required surgery and six weeks off. Since returning to action, however, Young has averaged 14.7 points off the bench in 22 games.

He’s also taking a team-high 5.5 shots per game from behind the arc and making 44 percent of them. That puts him in pretty good company—currently ranked No. 7 in the NBA for long-range accuracy.

And then there’s Young’s signature four-point plays—fading away, scissor-kicking and lofting distant rainbows before crashing back to planet earth.

When asked by Mike Trudell for a Lakers Voices segment about the art of such a difficult move, Young responded: "To explain this whole thing would take years. Because it’s like, mastering, you know? When you get a black belt, you’re mastering karate. It’s like, I’m master of the four-point play. ... It all comes with being the best shooter to ever step on a court."

Young's road to fame and fortune in Hollywood has had a complicated and circuitous path.

He grew up in West Los Angeles and was just five years old when his eldest brother, Charles, was shot and killed by a member of a notorious street gang in a case of mistaken identity. The tragedy sent another brother, John, spiraling into a breakdown and a mental care facility.

The ripple effect of a senseless shooting, and Young’s rocky basketball odyssey, inspired a feature documentary entitled Second Chance Season. The movie premiered days before the 2007 NBA draft.

Sam Alipour, for ESPN Page 2, wrote about the burden Young carried—that his ultimate success in the NBA would be the last best chance for a better life for his family: 

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Even as he clung to this common belief—that the fulfillment of a hoop dream is suffering's panacea—he buckled beneath its weight, flunking out of two high schools, Hamilton and Dorsey, where he could no longer stand to attend classes with members of the gang responsible for his brother's murder.

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After transferring to Grover Cleveland High in Reseda, Young’s journey began swinging back into alignment. But it was an unexpected act of friendship that helped fulfill his dreams.

In an interview with Andy Kamenetzky for ESPN LA, Young explained how Jordan Farmar—his teammate on the Pump-N-Run youth team and the star point guard at rival Taft High School—sent him a package of SAT study books and an inspirational message:

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And he had a note that said you need this opportunity because you're a great player and a great person. Anything I can do, I want to help and I want you to take full advantage of it. And the letter blew me away, because it's another player in high school sending me something like that. I gained the most respect for him and from there on, we've stayed the best of friends.

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Young ultimately attended USC on a full scholarship and was the Washington Wizards’ No. 16 draft pick in 2007. He spent most of five free-spirited seasons in D.C., followed by stops with the Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers before signing a minimum salary contract with the Lakers last season.

Last year’s brutal skid for a venerable franchise included the absence of Bryant for all but six games due to a fractured knee. But Young provided a ray of sun in Mike D’Antoni’s free-for-all offense, leading the team in scoring despite coming off the bench.

And as much as the points validated a redemptive homecoming for Young, his joie de vivre lifted the spirits of a team and fanbase that had grown accustomed to title runs, not residency in the cellar of the Western Conference.

Young was also reunited for a season with his old friend Farmar—who has since crossed hallways at Staples Center to play for the Clippers.

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And so the journey continues for a team at a crossroads. Bryant is now in his 19th NBA season, there’s another new coach in Byron Scott, and a ragtag group of lottery busts, waiver-wire pickups and expiring contracts.

Young clearly wants greater success than highlight reels and interviews. He’s only experienced two playoff runs during his professional basketball career—as a Wizards rookie and with the Clippers during a brief tenure in the spring of 2012. 

As Scott recently said, per Mark Medina for the Los Angeles Daily News: "He cares about winning. That’s the thing I love about him the most. He’s a player that likes to play around and have fun and practice and enjoys playing. ... But when we lose games, he takes it pretty hard. That’s very important."

Whether Young’s second-chance season with the Lakers results in postseason play is debatable, however—the team currently stands at 10-22 and is seven games out of eighth place in the west.

There is also no guarantee that the roots he’s put back down will remain intact. The league places a premium on volume scorers, and Young’s contract is one of the Lakers’ most tradable assets during a rebuild era.

But it would be a sad day if the organization exiled a prodigal native son. Because Swaggy P is an irrepressible basketball spirit, a launcher of improbable shots that somehow go in and a friend to teammates and beyond.

Ultimately, Nick Young means something real to Los Angeles—a welcome spark in an uncertain season and hope for better days ahead, as the calendar flips to a New Year.