Kobe Bryant says he’s willing to help out the Lakers front office

The Los Angeles Lakers could be making some changes at the top of their organization following this season. Lakers vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss pledged to step down at the end of the season if the team was not back in contention, a deadline his sister, Lakers president Jeanie Buss, has publicly defined as the second-round of the playoffs and said she will hold him to.

Jeanie Buss already met with at least one of the team’s many former superstars last week when she had dinner with Magic Johnson as she reportedly solicits opinions on the direction of the team. Could the team’s most recently retired legend be another option to help out the Lakers if they want guidance?

“I’m always around behind the scenes for Jeanie, Jimmy, and the entire Buss family if they need assistance or if it be to reach out or call for advice and things of that nature,” Kobe Bryant recently said on Stephen A. Smith’s radio show (as transcribed by Ryan Ward of Lakers Nation).

“Now, being front and center about it, it’s not something that is really my cup of tea,” Bryant continued. “I’d rather be behind the scenes and focus on the content I’m creating because that’s where my passion truly lies, but the Buss family knows that I’m always a phone call away.”

Bryant recently preached patience with the young team as they grow, which is help for the team in that it should at least slightly calm some members of an increasingly (and somewhat justifiably) impatient fan base that wants to see more immediate progress from the team.

It doesn’t sound like he wants to join the team in any official capacity, which isn’t exactly a surprise, but with players like Brandon Ingram expressing a desire to work out with Bryant and pick his brain, Kobe could certainly help the Lakers should they decide to take him up on his offer.

Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.