Gregg Doyel

Lance Stephenson comes back to Indianapolis, and my job gets easy. A guy like that? He's a sportswriter's dream. He's talented and petulant, a guy who can get triple-doubles and kill team chemistry and do both on the same night.

So for me, Pacers, please bring back Lance.

For you?

Are you nuts?

You can't bring back Lance Stephenson if you're the Pacers, because Lance Stephenson is what we call a loser. Hey, he is. Look at the Pacers last season. Look at the Charlotte Hornets this season. He is what he is. You can be mad at that harsh description, and I imagine lots of you will be. Lots of you love Lance. He plays with such passion and exuberance. He's so incredibly talented. He puts the ball in one hand and waves it over his head like a magic wand, then bounces it three times and explodes into the lane and gets off a shot and might even make it. He's fun to watch.

Except when he's not.

When he's not, he's painful to watch. He cries for fouls, cries for the ball, cries for attention. For two years the NBA has been abuzz with talk that Lance Stephenson steals rebounds from teammates. It's so obvious that Grantland.com asked him about it last month — and Stephenson didn't deny it.

"That means I'm hustling more than them," he said. "If I'm taking your rebound, you gotta hustle more."

Sounds good, I know, but it's a chemistry issue. People don't like playing with Lance. He fought with Evan Turner last year. He was the subject, most of us believe, of that infamous Roy Hibbert quote last season that there are "some selfish dudes in here."

And now the Hornets, 23 games into the season, want to dump him.

Lance Stephenson is their shiny new toy, a major offseason acquisition, arguably the most talented player on the roster and definitely among the most talented players in the NBA, and the Hornets are done with him. After 23 games.

What does that tell you?

It tells me the Hornets realize their mistake. They fell in love with Lance from afar, which is easy to do. Watch the highlights, study the stats, see the passion, and he's lovable. He really is. But there are two sides to Lance, and you have to be willing to see the other side to see it. Fans, they don't want to see it and so they don't. Nothing personal. I don't want to see the worst in the people I love, so I don't. My son? He screwed up? My son? Take it back, hater.

Lance is loved by those who want to love him. Fans around here wanted to for years, but don't forget what happened on Nov. 19 when the Hornets and Lance came to Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the crowd turned on him. Because he wasn't yours. He was theirs. And when he's theirs, he's not lovable.

The Hornets wanted to love him as they pursued him. But after 23 games they realized, wait, he's not what we thought. He's talented and gifted and passionate and all of that, true. But all that other stuff? The flopping, the complaining to refs, the dismissive arm-waving when a teammate doesn't throw him the ball? No, the Hornets don't like that.

The Pacers might. Dan Dakich of WFNI-AM (1070) was telling me on Monday that there are higher-ups within the Pacers who wanted Lance back in the offseason and would love to have him back right now. And up to a certain point, it makes sense. With Paul George hurt, Lance would be the best player on the team right now. Statistically, anyway. If the Pacers wants stats, Lance knows how to get them. He'll take rebounds from teammates, he'll make passes when he thinks — but only when he thinks — it will lead to a shot for a teammate. And he'll get his points too. Lance can fill a stat sheet like few players in the NBA.

He can kill a team's chemistry like few, too. Last season the Pacers woke up on Jan. 30 with a 35-9 record. They had the NBA's best record. That afternoon the NBA announced the All-Star reserves. Lance Stephenson didn't make the team. He wanted it, he probably even deserved it, and he wasn't happy about it. Hey, I get that.

What happened next, nobody understands. Lance got himself a triple-double that night. He had five turnovers, but he got his 14-10-10 box score. The Pacers lost that night to the Suns. Up and down they went, and then straight down. The Pacers were 21-17 the rest of the way, Stephenson was fighting with Turner, Hibbert was talking about "some selfish dudes" and Indiana was a mess.

Did Lance do all of that? Of course not. Hibbert went in the tank. George Hill wasn't assertive enough. Whoever brought in Andrew Bynum screwed that up. Same goes for Evan Turner. Lots of blame to go around, but Lance was in the middle of it. Good or bad, he's always in the middle of it.

The Hornets put him in the middle of their lineup. The Hornets (then-Bobcats) were 43-39 last year without Lance, a playoff team. They are 6-17 with Lance this year, in last place in the Southeast Division.

Lance Stephenson is averaging 10.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists. Only one other player in the NBA — Michael Carter-Williams of the 76ers — reaches all three of those averages. Stephenson's contract is a three-year, $27 million bargain.

The Hornets are done with him. After 23 games.

Should the Pacers bring him here? If you're rooting for the columnist, sure. If you're rooting for the Pacers? Of course not.

Connect with Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel