To be perfectly honest, my favorite era of Lakers and NBA basketball is long gone and I seriously doubt another like it will come along ever again.
This is not to say I don't love the game today, or the players playing it. I do, and I will continue to do so. And who knows? If the Lake Show manages to get to the top of the heap again, this might well turn out to be another great era. With the development of Bynum, the continued rise and ascendancy of Kobe Bryant, the arrival of Pau Gasol and the overall improvement of the rest of the team, it must just turn out to be!
The "golden age" I loved "started" with the famous Magic Johnson-Larry Byrd rivalry, and carried over into the Jordon-rules period. It basically ended with MJ's second retirement.
That time included such great players as Dr. J, Jabbar and Parish, Worthy and McHale, Stockton and Malone, Charles Barkley, Clyde "the Glide" Drexler, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, the "human highlight film" Dominique Wilkins and so many others. Perhaps it was not the golden age of professional basketball (I think this depends, to a large degree, on one's own perspective) but it was certainly the golden age for me and many of my generation.
And come to think of it, if that era was not the golden age, which one was? Will there ever be a better one? Doubtful, don't you agree?
I like most sports, but professional basketball is the only one I actively follow, and the Lakers are the only team I really care about. This is probably because it was by far my favorite sport as a kid, and growing up in Los Angeles (particularly as a b-ball player), how could you not come to admire (and even worship) the purple-and-gold?
Besides, who has the time to follow anything else? The NBA has a grueling (even for fans) 82 game regular season, typically followed by another 10, 20 even games in the postseason. I've got a life outside of the NBA! Following the Lakers is like a full-time gig in and of itself!