Larry

Bird

Bird may ultimately take another year away from the NBA, though he has a standing offer to return as the Pacers’ top executive. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has plenty of fallback options, as he’s already interviewed Mike Dunleavy, Chris Mullin, Chris Wallace, David Morway, Travis Schlenk, and others.

Simon added he expects a resolution at some point next week. Bird took last season off and then briefly flirted with the Kings’ GM position earlier in June before withdrawing his name from consideration. Donnie Walsh, who replaced Bird as team president, has said he plans to step aside as soon as Bird returns, which Walsh believes will happen at some point this summer. Walsh expects to run the Pacers’ draft, but it sounds like Larry Legend could be back in the fold after that.

Bird will return to the team after taking a year away from basketball. Larry Legend previously interviewed for a position with the Kings but eventually withdrew his name from contention. Current team president, Donnie Walsh, will remain with the organization as a consultant while current GM Kevin Pritchard will stay in that role.

Bird’s words are music to fantasy owners’ ears. “We want a style where we can score,” Bird said. “I’d like to score 105 points a game or maybe 106, but still defend the way we have.” We’ll have to see if Bird’s wish becomes a reality, but a new Pacers offense would up the fantasy value of their entire starting lineup, especially Paul George.

The former Indiana Hoosier will join the Pacers as a camp body, but he faces an uphill battle to make the final roster. Likely to spend the season in the D-League, Zeisloft won’t have any fantasy value in 2016-17.

Kevin Pritchard will take over basketball operations in Indiana. Woj says that “Bird is expected to continue on as a consultant, working with Pritchard and the Pacers front office.” It will be interesting to see if this has any impact on Paul George’s future with the Pacers.

Pritchard added that he has already received legitimate offers for the pick, and said that the trade talk will start to ramp up today. If the Pacers do end up keeping their pick, Pritchard said that he will take the best player available and that it’s also possible that the player they pick will be a rotational player next season.

The Mad Ants are the league’s lone independent affiliate, but that will no longer be the case with this news. The deal was supposed to be announced last week, but the details are still being finalized.

Upon purchasing the D-League team, the Pacers will have a single-affiliate relationship with Fort Wayne, and will be able to use the squad as a kind of training ground for unproven players.

Bird has bluntly stated that he wants to speed things up and his roster moves have backed up his speech -- traditional big man Roy Hibbert was traded to the Lakers, David West opted to sign for less with the Spurs, and Indiana’s marquee move in free agency was signing Monta Ellis. They have a rebuilt frontcourt featuring Jordan Hill and rookie Myles Turner, and Bird has said repeatedly that Paul George will play substantial minutes at PF. A faster pace can only be a good thing for the Pacers’ fantasy values, including guys like George Hill, Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Miles.