On Tuesday, the Indianapolis Star reported that Larry Bird is planning to resign as president of the Pacers, a move that the famed basketball player is “100 percent” sure of.
While no official announcement has been made so far, the report says that Bird was expected to meet with Pacers owner Herb Simon late yesterday to finalize his departure as president. Bird had a handshake agreement with Simon, rather than a three-year commitment.
Over the past several years, Bird has been working to rebuild the Pacers as a winning team in the Eastern Conference, and his statements last month gave no indication that he was planning to step down as president. If anything, it sounded like Bird was still committed.
“(I want to talk to Simon about) the direction of the team, what kind of job he thinks we’re doing, if there’s anything he sees that we should be doing better,” Bird said at the time. “Just a number of questions. I’ve got a lot of them written down to ask him, and hopefully we can get the answers we like and move on.”
ESPN reports that David Morway, general manager of the Pacers, also handed in his resignation on Tuesday, likely due to word of Bird’s planned departure. The Indiana Star speculates that former Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh will fill in Bird’s reportedly now-vacant position.
Do you think that Larry Bird’s departure will have much of an impact on the Pacers’ performance?
