Larry Bird: Paul George's Ray Rice-related tweets 'were thoughtless'

It was only a matter of time before someone from the Pacers' front office made a statement regarding Paul George's controversial tweets in support of Ray Rice. Unsurprisingly, that front office member was President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird.

Here is Bird's statement in full, courtesy of Pacers.com:

Paul George's tweets from earlier were thoughtless and without regard to the subject of domestic violence and its seriousness in society. We have talked to Paul to strongly express our displeasure and made it clear that the NBA and the Pacers' organization will not condone or tolerate remarks of this nature. Paul understands that he was wrong and why his tweets were so inappropriate and is very apologetic.

George's tweets, which have since been deleted, seemed to insinuate that Janay Rice's behavior gave Ray's actions some justification.

George later tweeted an apology and has an apologetic statement of his own tied to Bird's.

I want to apologize to all victims of domestic abuse for my insensitive tweets. They were obviously without proper understanding of the seriousness of the situation and I sincerely regret my poor choice of words.

As the Rice story continues to dominate sports headlines, it will be tough for George to distance himself from his insensitive comments.