Report: Larry Bird stepping down as Pacers president

Report: Larry Bird stepping down as Pacers president

Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird will step down from his position, reports The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski.

According to the report, Kevin Pritchard will take over the team's basketball operations, but Bird is expected to continue on as a consultant with the team.

Bird, 60, first was the president of basketball operations for the Pacers from 2003–2012, winning the NBA's Executive of the Year award in 2012.

He stepped away for a year, before taking on the role again before the 2013 season.

A Hall of Famer as player with the Boston Celtics, Bird first joined the Pacers organization in 1997, when he was named the head coach.

During his tenure as coach, the Pacers went to a least the conference finals in all three of his seasons. The team finally broke through to NBA Finals in his final season in 1999–2000, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

This season, the Pacers finished with a 42–40 record, good for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing all four games by a combined 16 points.

- Scooby Axson