How Lance Stephenson Could End Up with the Indiana Pacers, Again

If Lance Stephenson gets traded to the Orlando Magic, he will reportedly be waived, opening the door for a reunion with the Indiana Pacers.

Could Lance Stephenson re-join the Indiana Pacers. It looks feasible, even though plenty hurdles — and uncertain desires on both sides — remain.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, a potential trade of Channing Frye deal may go down that send the Orlando Magic forward to the Los Angeles Clippers’ for Lance Stephenson (as well as C.J. Wilcox). And if that goes through on Wednesday, Lance Stephenson will be a free agent after the Magic waive him.

With the Indiana Pacers active at the trade deadline, it is worth thinking about the possibility of Lance returning to Indiana.

Right now, though, the Frye deal is being held up by the Clippers as they look to make a bigger deal according to Wojnarowski.

But if the Clippers can’t find a better home for Stephenson that nets them something more desirable than Frye, Doc Rivers will pull the trigger and send Lance to Florida.

Where he will remain for a very short amount of time before being waived.

As Wojnarowski is reporting, Frye going to the Clippers and Wilcox and Stephenson heading to the Magic is the most likely outcome. So if Lance is then waived by Orlando, where does he go after that?

Frank Isola of New York Daily News seems to think that the New York Knicks are an option, as well as the Indiana Pacers.

Would Indiana take him back?

It is hard to give a hard yes or no answer to that question.

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When he was with the Pacers, Frank Vogel had him playing at an All-Star level, but in the season and a half since, he’s been a non-factor for the Charlotte Hornets and Clippers. He went from averaging 13.8 points a game with the Indiana Pacers in 2013-14 to averaging 4.7 points a game this season with the Clippers. The hope would be that if Lance returned, Vogel and Larry Bird would find a way to get Stephenson playing like his old self.

However, two weeks ago, when Bird mentioned Stephenson, it wasn’t in a way that sounded anything like an endorsement.

"Speaking of Lance, are you surprised by how his career has gone since leaving here?No. We had that conversation, too. Lance is a little different. I can’t talk about another team’s players, but he’s a little different."

Of course this isn’t the first time this season we’ve heard of the possibility of Stephenson returning, and when he was in Charlotte there were similar rumors that remained just that.

There is no denying that at one point Stephenson was Bird’s pet project that he took pride in, but a lot has happened since then. The exact details of what happened behind closed doors with Stephenson during his last season in Indiana are still shrouded in hearsay more than actual facts. At times it appeared the locker room might have been fine with bringing him back into the fold, but there are also clear signs he wouldn’t be welcomed back either.

However, that was also in the context of having to trade to get him back, meaning they’d be taking one of those players in the locker room away. But if Lance were to return as a free agent and without the cost of sending a current player packing, that could change the dynamic.

Next: 8p9s AMA Mailbag: Indiana Pacers, Meet the NBA Trade Deadline

For now, this is all just a rumor and would require a few things to fall in place for Lance to return. It may be a long shot, but don’t be surprised to hear the subject broached this week.