EL SEGUNDO >> The four young men looked into the camera all sporting warm smiles. Brandon Ingram wrapped his arm around D’Angelo Russell, while he held onto a basketball. Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle jumped into the air, both to show off their athleticism and enthusiasm.

The message behind their pose during a recent photo shoot with GQ Magazine went beyond the four players showing off their fashion sense as they donned crisp sweaters. For the first time in 20 years, the face of the Lakers is not Kobe Bryant. And unlike last season when the Lakers finished with the worst record in franchise history, Russell, Ingram, Randle and Clarkson all offer hope to an organization eager to relive the familiar feeling of star power fueling championship parades.

“It was a little thing for the new era coming in,” Ingram said of the photo shoot. “But we’re trying to get better each and every day and find an identity for ourselves. When we do team things, individual things will come out.”

The photo shoot naturally led to boasting of which player donned the best sweater. Although he called his sweater the “weirdest thing” for featuring a collection of teddy bears, Clarkson contended the look “brings out my personality.” Despite admittedly wearing an undersized sweater, Randle bragged that “my swag was the best.”

Interestingly, Russell, Ingram and Clarkson participated in the shoot a day before Randle because of scheduling conflicts. The image symbolized all the potentially positive and negative themes surrounding the 2016-17 season, which begins Wednesday night against Houston at Staples Center.

“It looks like we were together, but we really weren’t,” Randle said, laughing. “But it was a fun experience.”

The Lakers also have had fun under first-year head coach Luke Walton because his pleasant personality, positive reinforcement and trajectory as a rising coach contrasts the stern and less innovative approach former Lakers coach Byron Scott took.

Walton preaches the team-oriented, ball-movement concepts that helped turn Golden State into one of the league’s most dangerous teams. It’s the polar opposite of the Lakers’ identity last season, which featured Kobe Bryant and his younger teammates playing too much one-on-one.

All of which leads to two intriguing questions. What can this young group accomplish this season? And will they offer glimpses of star quality that enhance instead of hurt their team concepts?

“They all have the potential,” Walton said. “They all have unique abilities. It’s just about who’s willing to put in that time to work? Who’s naturally able to adapt to the NBA game?”

Based on informal conversations with opposing team’s players, executives and assistant coaches, the sentiment around the NBA is clear on one thing. TNT/NBA TV analyst Grant Hill echoed the thoughts of many when he said “the playoffs, I don’t see that as a possibility.” After the Lakers went 17-65 last season, most are predicting they will win anywhere between 21 to 35 games.

The Lakers don’t accept those projections, but they have not invoked “championship-or-bust” rhetoric, either.

“It would be nice to fight for that eighth spot and get in the playoffs,” Clarkson said. “But it’s about winning games, growing as a team and seeing the progress. That’s the biggest thing we want to prove.”

Yet, there are mixed feelings on the Lakers’ star potential itself.

TNT analyst and former NBA coach Kevin McHale believes Ingram has “got all the skills to be an All-Star” because of his outside shooting and defensive versatility, though plenty suspect he will experience some hiccups adapting to the physical play in the NBA. A healthy debate has loomed on whether the Lakers’ seventh pick in 2014 (Randle) or their No. 27 pick in 2015 (Larry Nance Jr.) will emerge as a better defender, jump shooter and bruising forward. While some see Clarkson as simply a viable sixth man, others are encouraged by how his strong work ethic has accelerated his growth ever since the Lakers selected him with the 46th pick in 2014.

And then there’s the intrigue surrounding Russell, who the Lakers have praised during training camp for his improved maturity and work habits under a coach who has empowered him to lead.

“The one who has to do it is D’Angelo. He’s the point guard,” said former Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton, who played with the Lakers in 2003-04 and serves as an NBA analyst for Fox Sports 1. “He has to step up and get everybody else better. They can if they work hard enough to do that.”

There’s uncertainty surrounding how well Russell will properly blend his talents as a scorer and passer or how well he will lead the Lakers during adversity. The Lakers have offered rave reviews thus far.

“It’s too early,” Russell said. “But if we come together as a team, we don’t have to have stars if we’re successfully winning as a group. If that involves no stars and a lot of guys who can make plays and do what they do with their role, I’m fine with that.”

That explains why the Lakers have frequently talked about the need to erase the selfish tendencies left over from when they were stars in high school. After signing a four-year, $50 million deal this summer, Clarkson enters his third season accepting a sixth man role without complaint. Though Ingram said he “absolutely” wants to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award after the Lakers selected him No. 2, he said he will accept his bench role and play “team basketball.”

“We have an identity. Last year, it was a free for all.,” Randle said. “We were all young and didn’t know exactly what we were doing. We had the Kobe (farewell), and we didn’t know where we fit in and what would happen on a day-to-day basis. This year we have a plan going into every game with how we want to play and build on things.”

And unlike their recent GQ photo shoot, the Lakers hope to forge their young core with something substantive and real.