Danny Granger will return soon but… do the Pacers really need him?

Danny Granger is almost ready to return to the Pacers, but with the way things are going for them he can take his time.

Pay per head services found out that Granger is expected to work out today and could return to practice as early as Wednesday, coach Frank Vogel said before last night’s game against the Grizzlies.

Overall, the way the Pacers are playing they don’t need to change anything. They smoked the Grizzlies 95-79 last night to improve to 8-0 on the season behind a balanced offense and a pretty good defense.

Before last season Granger had been Indiana’s best player for quite some time but last year he only played five games due to patellar tendinosis and Paul George emerged as the new go-to guy offensively as well as a key defender.

George hasn’t been the only Pacer that has stepped up in Granger’s absence, as Lance Stephenson has played at an incredible level that has made fans forget about Granger. Stephenson posted a triple-double that included 13 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists last night and he is shooting 48 percent on the season while Granger hasn’t shot better than 43 percent since the 2008-09 campaign.

Stephenson can shoot open threes, set up teammates, create havoc in transition, defend at a high level and he is loved by his teammates. I don’t think that the Pacers need Granger anymore. He is an All-Star caliber player when healthy but as the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and his return could interfere with the chemistry that the Pacers have developed. Having said that, if he is healthy and they find a role for him that doesn’t alter the way the team is playing then the Pacers might be even scarier and virtually unbeatable.