'I feel bad for using that word': Pacers president apologizes for 'real star' comment

INDIANAPOLIS — Pacers president Kevin Pritchard rarely tweets, but he broke his Twitter silence Sunday after being criticized by fans for a comment he made in an article published by The Athletic last week.

Pritchard was discussing Indiana's weaknesses when he said the team is still trying to "manufacture that real star," which could be viewed as a slight to the franchise's current players, and, more specifically, two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis.

Pritchard made it clear that wasn't his intention and publicly apologized.

"Although I don't respond much I thought I would give my 2 cents," Pritchard wrote. "First of all, I believe in all our players and hold them to the highest order. In all honesty I believe we have multiple 'stars' on our team but we all know we need more. We have challenged our players to be better. The point specially was so believe we can close games at higher levels and if we do our record will reflect it.

"Could have used a better word than 'stars' probably. When you get interviewed for hours your prob gonna slip up. I speak with our players everyday and i felt bad for using that word. an appropriate apology was sent. No one believes more in this team..."

Pritchard's original comments were included in a piece about Myles Turner, who was candid last week about wanting a bigger role within the franchise.

At one point, Pritchard discussed Indiana's struggles to land top tier players as a small-market team.

“At some point in time, we’ve got to figure out how to manufacture that real star,” Pritchard said. “We had it with Paul (George). He had an ‘it’ factor and so did Victor (Oladipo) and so we’re trying to get that. But we think that a couple of these players could become that, too. We may have it already in the gym. But that’s the biggest challenge is, in this sort of marketplace, how do you get a star? It’s hard for us to sign one in free agency, that’s a challenge. But there are other ways to do it, and I think we can do it.”

The Pacers have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since George, who now plays for the Clippers, led them to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2013-14.

However, in the post-George era, Sabonis has emerged as one of the top big men in the league.

After leading Indiana to its third straight win with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists against the Mavericks on Friday, Sabonis was asked about Pritchard's "real star" comment.

"I don't know how to respond," Sabonis said. "You caught me off guard (with the question). It definitely, yeah, I don't know what to say.

"You know everyone on this team is trying to be a top player and improve every summer, lead the team to wins. I feel like we have a great group of guys that work together, and we just want to go out there and get wins."

Sabonis is averaging 18.2 points, 11.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 58.4% from the field this season. Reigning Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and reigning regular-season MVP Nikola Jokic are the only two other NBA players are averaging at least 18.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting 50% from the field.

Sabonis also became the first NBA player since Shaquille O’Neal in 1993 to record a a 25-rebound triple-double with 16 points, 10 assists and 25 rebounds at Minnesota last month.

The Pacers will try to push their winning streak to four games Monday against the Warriors and superstar guard Steph Curry, who is seven 3s away from breaking Ray Allen's NBA record (2,973).

Pritchard's public apology quells some of the discourse around his team — which is already without head coach Rick Carlisle after he recently tested positive for COVID-19 — and allows it to focus more of its attention on spoiling Curry's march to history.

Follow IndyStar Pacers beat writer James Boyd on Twitter: @RomeovilleKid.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers president Kevin Pritchard apologizes for 'real star' comment