Donnie Walsh has no idea if Larry Bird will return as president of the Indiana Pacers.

Walsh spoke with Bird shortly before the playoffs began and didn't glean anything about his plans.

“I told him he should come back, but he didn't really give me an answer, so I said that's the last time I was going to ask,” Walsh said. “And it was.”

The Sacramento Kings are interested in Bird leading their front office. Should Bird take the job, he would face a rebuilding job even greater than the one he spearheaded with the Pacers.

“It takes a lot of courage to go do it the first time,” Walsh said. “Do you want to do it again and rebuild the team? It won't be fun. It's not fun. And you're going to lose (for awhile).”

Walsh is willing to resume retirement if Bird returns to the Pacers front office.

“The only way I'd come back is if (Bird) would say, 'I need you to help me with this,' or something like that,” Walsh said. “I know I could do that. In that role you can call people in the league and find out a lot of things. You're not the GM or the president.”