Sam Amick

USA TODAY Sports

Even if Larry Bird had remained, staying on board as the Indiana Pacers basketball president rather than stepping aside as he did Friday when general manager Kevin Pritchard took the reins, the team’s Paul George problem would have remained.

Whether in free agency two summers from now or via trade before then, the four-time All-Star is still hell-bent on joining the Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe now more than ever.

As elephant-in-the-room NBA free agency factors go, this is one of the more memorable ones. In most situations like these, there are quiet rumblings about where a particular player may or may not want to go. But with the 26-year-old George, who grew up in the Southern California town of Palmdale and always saw the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant as his preeminent basketball idol, there’s a transparent reality about his dream of seeing his name in the Staples Center lights.

If, that is, the Pacers can’t get back on the title-contending track before then. And that’s where this situation gets convoluted.

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By all accounts, Bird’s decision to step aside has no impact on how George sees the Pacers situation. He has the utmost respect for Larry Legend, who was known to be looking to spend more time with his wife and family and will now serve as a consultant for the organization. But he knows that Pritchard is a widely respected front office talent too, having worked wonders as the lead basketball executive with the Portland Trailblazers before joining Bird in July of 2011. The fact that he has Bird’s backing is big too, especially when Pacers owner Herb Simon is surely considering all options about the Pacers’ future.

Yet in the Pacers’ pursuit of beating the odds and convincing George to stay, they face the same questions now that they did before deciding not to trade George at the February trade deadline.

Will they be able to offer him the designated player extension this summer?

Per the rules of the collective bargaining agreement that was finalized in mid-December, George can only be offered this monstrous contract — five years, approximately $212 million — if he is voted onto one of the all-NBA teams this season. That deal would be worth approximately $70 million more than any other team can offer, mostly because of the Pacers’ ability to add an extra year (the deal is worth approximately $26 million more over a four-year span, but only the Pacers can do five years).

Yet the Pacers aren’t likely to know the results of the media voting which dictates All-NBA selections until mid-June — in advance of the June 26 awards show on TNT where it will be announced — meaning there’s no clarity on this front yet. Should George qualify, the Pacers would have from July 6 to the start of the 2017-18 regular season to do this deal.

But even if they can, it’s not necessarily the silver bullet in this situation that so many have assumed. George truly cares about winning, and that means he’s not about to take the extra millions to stay just because it fattens his already-thick wallet — especially considering he could sign a similar deal with the Pacers next summer so long as he earns All-NBA honors next season. Which leads us to the next question…

Can they improve the roster?

Before the Pacers even worry about George’s deal, they’d be well advised to convince point guard/unrestricted-free-agent-to-be Jeff Teague to return. The 28-year-old had a good season for the Pacers, starting all 82 games and averaging 15.3 points and 7.8 assists before they were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. Yet he’ll receive significant interest this summer when top-tier point guards like Golden State’s Steph Curry (unrestricted), the Clippers’ Chris Paul (unrestricted), and Toronto’s Kyle Lowry (who has a player option) could re-sign with their current teams. Teague would then be as a good Plan B (along with other point guard options like Jrue Holiday, George Hill and Derrick Rose) as there is in the league. According to projections from BasketballInsiders.com, the Pacers could have as much as $32.6 million in cap room this summer.

The timing of it all will be interesting to monitor, as George will want to see what happens with the roster before deciding on a deal. And because the deadline isn’t until late October, the Pacers could find themselves facing mounting pressure to trade George if he tells them he’d rather wait until the finish line nears to commit. Yet with the entire basketball world aware of George’s affinity for the Lakers, and with just one year left on his deal, the likely prospect of him being widely seen as a rental means the returns could be slim.

For George’s part, the prospect of building a winner in Laker Land still looms large. He is a popular talent among his on-court colleagues, the kind of respected star who – much like new Lakers president of basketball operations/longtime Bird rival, Magic Johnson – could inspire others like him to follow and fix the failing franchise. There’s even more of a Kobe connection in Laker Land now than there was at the trade deadline, too, with Bryant’s former agent, Rob Pelinka, having been hired in early March to serve as the team’s general manager. Bird stepping down from his Pacers post didn’t change any of this in the least.

All it means, really, is that Bird may have avoided losing to his old friend and nemesis in this basketball battle for George’s services.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Sam Amick on Twitter @Sam_Amick.