Coming off their third straight losing season, the Indiana Pacers are gearing up for what could be a franchise-altering offseason with the help of basketball legend Larry Bird.

The Pacers announced that Bird is back with the team to serve as a consultant, though not in an official front office role. Bird most recently served as an advisor for the front office from 2017-2022, stepping down last July.

A Hall of Fame member as a player, Bird also excelled as a coach and as a front-office executive following the end of his playing days. He coached the Pacers for three seasons from 1997-2000, leading Indiana to the Eastern Conference Finals in all three and an NBA Finals appearance in 2000. He won NBA Coach of the Year in his first season.

Bird then served as president of basketball operations for the Pacers from 2003-2012, and again from 2013-2017 after a year off due to health issues. He won NBA Executive of the Year in 2012, becoming the only person to win NBA MVP, Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year.

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The Pacers are a very intriguing team to watch this offseason. Indiana has three first-round picks in the 2023 NBA Draft and has plenty of roster flexibility to earn more picks and free up cap space.

It's nice to see Larry Bird stick around the game of basketball more than 30 years after he retired from playing. He was one of the best to do it on the court and has proven to have one of the best basketball minds in the world based on his resume following his retirement as a player.