Pacers don’t rule out Paul George returning this season

Indiana doesn’t want to rush George back, but Bird said the team wouldn’t hold him out if he’s ready to play (via @Pacers): “If he gets healthy and they say he can play and he wants to play, we’ll let him play.”

George added fuel to the fire by posting this message on Twitter.

Bird made it a point to say he has “no idea” if George will return to the court this season, but Bird stressed the importance of his star playing this year if he’s truly ready to go. Bird also said he was told George’s leg would be healed seven months after the injury, which occurred on Aug. 1. Based on that timetable, the leg should be healed sometime in March.

Indiana has struggled this season without George, riding one of the worst offenses in the NBA to a 17-32 record. However, the Pacers are still only 4½ games out of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, so the postseason isn’t yet out of the question.

Even if Indiana is out of the playoff race by the time of a potential George return, it would still be beneficial to get him some reps in advance of a full-blown return in 2015-16. This of course hinges on the swingman being 100 percent healthy and ready to play, because it would be foolish to risk bringing him back when he’s not ready, especially in a lost season.

George has already been doing some dunking in practice, but there’s still a lot of work to be done before he’s prepared to play in an NBA game.

Indiana received a disabled player exception after George went down, but that won’t stop him from returning as long as it remains unused.