Recently, Joey Buss and Jesse Buss of the Buss family were fired by the Lakers. Jesse Bass was interviewed by The Athletic reporter Dan Woike.

Q: "You said you wondered how your dad would feel about all of this. When you talked to him about his vision for you and Joey on the team, what did he say?"

Bass: "His idea was for us to be in charge of basketball one day. Operations department, this plan had been discussed 15 years ago. He told me at the time that he wanted Jimmy to retire in the next five to seven years - which was about 2010 - and he slowly started to involve Joey and me in the day-to-day operations. Eventually, I wanted to plan. Here's the thing: Jenny handles the business side, and Joey and I help run the basketball operations department."

Question: "Do you ever feel like you're getting close to realizing that vision?"

Bass: "No, but sometimes I feel like I'm in the team. Involvement in the organization has been up and down. Obviously, I think we have expertise in the second half of the draft, and that's kind of where I'm positioned in the organization to be able to provide a lot of input on who to select with those picks and sometimes I'm consulted on various free agent moves. Or the possible trades we considered."

"But a lot of times within the organization, I always felt like I was working against them, so to speak, but all I wanted was for this team to be as successful as possible. It doesn't matter who owns it, or who is involved in those decisions, as long as it is best for the Lakers."

Question: "Do you think the Buss family can still have an active role in the Lakers in the future? Can these relationships be repaired?"

Bass: "I sincerely wish them all the best. At the end of the day, I love them because they are my brothers and sisters. I don't quite know what went wrong in the process, and I guess you have to ask each of them individually. But any time, as long as I Whenever any brother or sister needs me, I will be there to support them."

Jenny, Johnny, Jim, and Jenny were born to Bass Sr. and his wife, Joan Mueller, and Joey and Jesse were the illegitimate children of Bass Sr. and his girlfriend, Karen Demel.