Brandon Roy has already made it official: he is making his comeback to the NBA after retiring before the 2011-12 season started due to chronic knee injuries. Roy has already drawn interest for GMs across the league, with teams like Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves as the top suitors, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Woj has also stated the Indiana Pacers are also looking to pursue the 27-year-old shooting guard. While Roy’s knees will never be fixed entirely, his health reportedly has been improving. Wojnarowski notes that the therapy he’s been receiving may help expand his NBA career like other star athletes.

Roy’s recovery from chronic knee problems has been recently spurred by undergoing the platelet rich plasma therapy procedure that Lakers star Kobe Bryant popularized with NBA players, sources said. The blood spinning procedure gave profound relief to the knees of Bryant, Tracy McGrady and baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

Roy would definitely fit well with the Pacers. He almost certainly wouldn’t start over Paul George or Danny Granger, but he would be a solid fit off the bench who could add scoring, play-making and veteran leadership. While Brandon likely has his choice of destinations, Indiana may have one advantage: Kevin Pritchard, who served as the GM of the Portland Trail Blazers when Roy used to play there.

Woj thinks this could increase Indiana’s chances.

Pacers executive Kevin Pritchard made a draft day deal for Roy in 2006 as Blazers GM, and his relationship could play a pivotal part in Indiana’s recruitment of Roy, sources said. Roy trusts Pritchard, and values the fact that he brought him to Portland. Nevertheless, Roy hasn’t begun the process of narrowing his list of possibilities. After Thursday’s draft, more teams could express interest in him.

The Pacers will need to make a quick offer to entice Roy. Reports say that the Timberwolves are already prepared to offer him a two-year deal once free agency begins. (Teams cannot officially sign anyone until July 11, but players, agents and teams will begin negotiating on July 1.)

At the trade deadline in 2011, Indiana almost had a huge deal in their hands: Memphis Grizzlies shooting guard OJ Mayo in exchange for Josh McRoberts. Imagine where the Pacers could have been this year if they had Mayo? Maybe they could have beaten the Miami Heat?

However, the deal reportedly fell apart when the third team needed for cap purposes (New Orleans) backed out. Another deal was seemingly close to completion this past December, but reportedly fizzled after David Morway tried forcing Brandon Rush into the trade.

Regardless, the Pacers have clearly demonstrated their interest in Mayo specifically. And as they enter this year’s off-season, they are reportedly looking for solid role players. Mayo, who is a restricted free agent this summr, could be one. He is a solid shooter, can create his own shot off the dribble, and has shown an ability to play pretty good defense at time.

As such, he is likely to draw multiple suitors. Will the Pacers try to land him again?

In my opinion, I believe they should. There are really not a lot of guys on Indiana’s roster now who can create their own shot. Mayo is one of those guys. He can hit three. He’s learned to hit the big shots since he first stepped foot on an NBA court. The want is obvious. The big question is how much money they would want to spend on him.

Mayo isn’t a superstar by any means. However, many teams are looking to get their hands on him and lure him away from Memphis. The Chicago Bulls, for example, reportedly have been interested and there are likely other teams that may be willing to overpay him. Meanwhile, you can bet on the fact the Grizzlies won’t overpay and just let him walk.

How much, then, is Mayo worth? I would probably say between $7 to $10 million per year. Would Indiana even take the chance? They’ll likely have to pay Roy Hibbert around a $12 million annual salary. They may have enough cap space to also add Mayo, but is it worth it? Especially with George Hill’s free agency also pending this summer.

And that is where the questions of trades come up. Darren Collison has been involved of speculation of being traded on draft day. Adding to the fact of Kevin Pritchard being the new GM, and his past of making trades, there’s a good chance he is at least considering moving up.

However, would it be ideal to trade Danny Granger? We all know Granger was a bit overpaid when the Pacers re-signed after his career-season in the 2008-09 season. He’s been involved into trade scenarios since then, but Larry Bird has kept him out of it. However, if Indiana would want to get a guy like Mayo and pay him well, it seems like Granger could be the odd man out.

With that, Mayo would be slotted into the two-guard while Paul George moves back to his natural position of small forward. Personally, I think there is a problem with that. I still think George isn’t quite ready yet, and it showed during the Miami series. Indiana still needs Granger, no doubt, so it looks like we can keep those trades out of the way.

So really, if the Pacers do try signing Mayo, they may not have enough cap room to get anyone else after that. He would be huge help, but the question is how much would Indiana pay to get him.

Roy Hibbert is a nice guy. The Indiana Pacers center took his Area 55 fans out to the movies on Wednesday night, as they watched Prometheus.

Hibbert asked his fans over Twitter if they wanted to come to AMC Castleton Square 14 to watch and offered the fans free tickets. However, there was only one condition: they were not allowed talk about his contract situation or anything about next year.

It’s all about having fun.

Hibbert has been all over the place recently, recently also being on on Jimmy Kimmel with Jeremy Lin as they both faced off in his Skype scavenger hunt. He also just began a chat session with fans on ESPN (which started at noon).

According to Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star, reigning NBA Executive of the Year Larry Bird plans to return as the Indiana Pacers’ president. But once he is officially set to lead the franchise again next year, Bird reportedly wants to make a major change to the front office: replacing current GM David Morway with his former Celtics teammate Kevin Pritchard, who was hired as Pacers’ director of player personnel in the 2011 offseason.

The reason is reportedly more about Bird’s poor relationship with Morway as it is with his respect for Pritchard’s basketball acumen, although the two are presumably intertwined.

The relationship between Morway and Bird reportedly became strained when the GM failed to acquire OJ Mayo (in a sign-and-trade deal for Josh McRoberts) or Jamal Crawford (through free agency) before the season. In fact, according to Wells, the two now have “no relationship,” and Morway is a “soon-to-be ousted general manager.”

The final straw with the Bird-Morway relationship, according to those close to the two, came during training camp when the Pacers failed to land O.J. Mayo and then lost out on free agent Jamal Crawford – option No. 2 to be the team’s first shooting guard off the bench – on the same day.

The Pacers had agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that would have sent Josh McRoberts to Memphis for Mayo because the Grizzlies were trying to shed salary. Sources say it was Morway that caused the deal to “fall apart” because he pushed the Grizzlies to take swingman Brandon Rush. Morway did a lot of talking to teams and some of the negotiating. Bird would then step in and make the final decision.

Bird was seething over the blown deal, according to sources. He had lost any remaining trust in Morway after that.

Bird had tried multiple times over the years land Mayo, who he felt would be the one player on the roster that could get his own shot off the dribble.

To make matters worse, Crawford and his agent got tired of waiting on the Pacers to make a decision that they told them the same day the Mayo deal fell apart that they weren’t going to sign with them.

It also showed, as Bird was never really with Morway during the games.

Things were so bad that during the playoffs Bird took the coaching staff and training staff out to dinner on back-to-back nights during their playoff series against Orlando and brought Pritchard along and didn’t invite Morway, his general manager, sources say. It was Pritchard who often sat next to Bird during the games on the road while Morway usually sat several rows higher.

It was no wonder that Morway interviewed with the Portland Trail Blazers to take over as their GM, a position once held by Pritchard.. That job, however, went to former Los Angeles Clippers GM Neil Olshey. Now, it looks like Bird will return and Morway will be out of a job. Presumably, this will be the biggest “question” that Larry will have for his owner, Herb Simon, when they sit down soon (next week has been reported by Wells) to make Bird’s return official. And if Simon wants Bird to continue to be team president — especially for under-market pay — it would likely be a no-brainer for him to allow Larry to have complete control over who comprises the front-office team.

When Lance Stephenson was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in the second round back in 2010, many expected it to be a steal since he was a star in high school nicknamed Born Ready. However, mediocre play and maturity issues have surrounded Stephenson’s NBA career so far.

However, Stephenson hasn’t had a full chance to develop yet and he could be a quality player for Indiana off the bench. Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star writes that Stephenson could be the sixth man of the team next year.

“I’ll be surprised if Leandro Barbosa, who had that role after being acquired from Toronto in March, is re-signed. Stephenson has continued to mature on and off the court. … Don’t hand Stephenson the job, but give him a shot at it because it’s time to see if he’s ready to handle being the sixth man.”

Stephenson does have potential and has shown some signs of it this season when he was able to get playing time. He will have to do a lot more, however, to overcome the main highlight for Stephenson’s pro career: throwing up a choke sign at the Heat’s bench during a series the Pacers lost.

For Dallas, their Plan A is to try to sign hometown-native Deron Williams, who will certainly opt-out of his contract with the Nets and may leave some money on the table by not re-signing in Brooklyn. If Dallas is unable to get him, then they go to Plan B.

According to Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com (via Pro Basketball Talk), Plan B is going after Hibbert. who is a restricted free agent. The Mavericks may be willing to pay Hibbert a lot, but since Roy is a restricted free agent, Indiana can match any offer if they wish. Presumably, the Pacers will match even up to the four-year max deal (of roughly $55 million) that Dallas can offer Hibbert under the CBA.

So no matter what the Mavericks do, there’s a good chance of Hibbert staying. It just might cost Indiana a little more.

Yes, the Pacers’ season is over. But what a season it has been. We get a last look at how true fans were to the team. This one right here used a flamingo to taunt LeBron James after he missed an easy dunk.

Enjoy the rest of the playoffs.

17 years ago today, Reggie Miller scored eight points in nine seconds against the New York Knicks. Let’s take a look back and enjoy one of the best moments in Pacers history. If it wasn’t for this, this site wouldn’t have this name. Thank you, Reggie.

“Our players were provoked into a verbal confrontation and ended up walking away from the confrontation,” said a rep for the Pacers. ”To make something more out of this than what it was is ludicrous.”

Good thing it didn’t turn out to a big fight or anything serious. The Pacers currently lead the Magic 2-1 in their playoff series and will face them again for Game Four on Saturday. (video via TMZ.)

George Hill has been playing solid starting at point guard since he has filled in for Darren Collison, who has been out with a groin injury.

Due to his strong performance this past week, Hill has been named starter for the remainder of the season even when Collison returns, according to the Pacers:

Coach Vogel announced today that George Hill will remain the starter at point guard. Darren Collison will come off the bench when healthy.

Vogel was also quoted saying during the press conference that both DC and Hill are “top ten point guards,” and that it’s “a good problem to have.” Both players are capable of being a starter on several NBA teams.

I don’t blame Indy for making the move. I think it was the right one, when you consider seeing how Hill has been doing.

Overall, since he has filled in for the starting role, the Pacers haven’t lost a game, going 7-0 as they look to lock up the third seed. They currently have a 42-22 record after outlasting the Milwaukee Bucks, where Hill scored a season-high 22 points.

Hill has also been averaging 15.4 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game along with 46% shooting from the field.

With the decision, DC will now be coming off the bench. Here at Eight Points Nine Seconds, we’ve discussed the situation before of Hill possibly starting for team. Many folks in the comments said to stick with DC, but judging by the recent play, some may just change their minds.

I think with Collison on the bench, the B team can be a little more smooth since DC and Tyler Hansbrough mesh together more than he does with Hill. Both have also done better with pick-and-rolls.