Larry Bird reportedly leaving the Indiana Pacers

David Morway resigned Tuesday as general manager of the Indiana Pacers amid reports that Larry Bird is on the way out, too.

Morway was hired by the Pacers in 1999 and had been GM since 2008. The Indianapolis Star reported Tuesday that Bird is expected to leave the Pacers, citing an unidentified person with direct knowledge of the situation. The Pacers and owner Herb Simon declined to comment.

The 55-year-old Bird was the Pacers coach from 1997-2000, taking the team to its only NBA Finals appearance that last year, before returning to the front office in 2003. He took full control of basketball decisions after the 2007-08 season, when Donnie Walsh left to become the New York Knicks’ president.

This year, Bird was the NBA executive of the year after building a tough, young team that lost to eventual champion Miami in six games. He is the only person in league history to win that award, the MVP award and coach of the year.

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The Detroit Pistons traded guard Ben Gordon and a future first-round draft choice to the Charlotte Bobcats for swingman Corey Maggette.

Gordon averaged 12.5 points last season, including a 45-point outing at Denver in which he tied his own NBA record by making nine 3-pointers without a miss. The NBA’s sixth man of the year in 2005 with Chicago spent three disappointing seasons in Detroit, averaging 12.4 points.

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Amare Stoudemire has been fined $50,000 by the NBA after the New York Knicks star tweeted a gay slur.

Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, announced the fine in a release, calling Stoudemire’s language offensive and derogatory.

Stoudemire apologized Sunday to a fan for using the slur in response to a crude tweet in which the fan admonished the All-Star to “make up for this past season.”

The fan, (at)BFerrelli, tweeted his comment Saturday and received a direct message containing an expletive and the slur from the account Twitter verifies as Stoudemire’s. BFerrelli, identified by the New York Daily News as Brian Ferrelli, posted a screen shot of the direct message. Direct messages can only be seen by the sender and the recipient.

Stoudemire also issued an apology in a statement Tuesday. “I am a huge supporter of civil rights for all people,” he said. “I am disappointed in myself for my statement to a fan. I should have known better and there is no excuse.”

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The Minnesota Timberwolves have acquired swingman Chase Budinger from the Houston Rockets in exchange for the 18th overall pick in the draft, a person with knowledge of the deal told the Associated Press. The person requested anonymity because the deal has not been officially announced.

The Rockets now have the 14th, 16th and 18th selections in the draft.

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The New York Knicks said J.R. Smith declined his second-year contract option and will become a free agent.

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The NBA has awarded the Boston Celtics a 2013 second-round pick of the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of a trade disclosure dispute ruling involving Jeff Green, who sat out this season after heart surgery.

Commissioner David Stern determined there was no evidence of bad faith or intent to withhold information on the part of the Thunder, but that the team’s cardiologists had knowledge about Green that was not shared with its own team management and should have been disclosed to the Celtics.

Boston acquired Green at the 2011 trade deadline in a deal that sent Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City.

Etc.

NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth, a former champion who’s also leading this year’s Sprint Cup Series title standings, is leaving the Roush Fenway Racing team after this season.

No reason was cited but Roush Fenway said Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 24, who won the championship in NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series last year, would replace Kenseth and join Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle in the team’s Cup series stable.

Kenseth, 40, is in his 13th full season with Roush Fenway and the Wisconsin native won the 2003 Cup title. He opened this season by winning his second Daytona 500, his 22nd career Cup series victory.

—Jim Peltz

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees is confident that he and the Saints will agree on a long-term contract.

With the start of training camp about a month off, the two sides still have “a ways to go” to close the gap, the 2010 Super Bowl MVP said. Nonetheless, he said, “I’m confident, and always have been, that we’ll get a long-term deal accomplished.”

Brees acknowledged that the NFL’s bounty investigation into the Saints has slowed down negotiations.

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Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin has suspended linebacker Steven Jenkins and defensive back Howard Matthews one game each for violating team policy.