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Pacers president Walsh says he will step aside if Larry Bird returns

Donnie Walsh

Donnie Walsh, president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks, answers questions during media day at the team’s training facility Friday, Sept. 24, 2010, in Greenburgh, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

AP

After a year off to get healthy, does Larry Bird want to get back in the team president game?

Bird left the Pacers as team president last year on good terms, wanting to rest an injured shoulder.

But if Bird wants to come back, the 72-year-old Walsh told the New York Post he’d step aside.

Walsh, the 72-year-old former Knicks president, told The Post Sunday he recently asked Bird if he wants to come back and he’d be willing to step aside. Walsh still hasn’t heard an answer from Bird….

Walsh said yesterday he would return if Bird doesn’t and owner Herb Simon wants him to. “I like this but I don’t need to do it,’’ Walsh said.

Walsh and GM Kevin Pritchard will run the draft for the team, but after that don’t be shocked if Bird returns. Which is a good thing, he’s a savvy exec who helped build the roster the Pacers have now.