The Day Roy Hibbert Thought He Was Traded To Minnesota But Instead Landed A Spot On 'Parks and Recreation'

Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert will make his small screen debut tonight when he appears in an episode of the sharp NBC sitcom, Parks and Recreation at 8:30PM.

After seeing other NBA players enjoy acting opportunities on television, Hibbert took the initiative to have his agent look into landing a spot on the Indiana-based PnR show. Roy's agent is good and got the job done, but when he called to share the good news with Hibbert, he unknowingly freaked out Big Roy and a room full of Pacers staffers. Here's how Hibbert explained it today during a great interview on the 1070 The Fan with Grady and Big Joe who also had Mike Wells in studio.

I wasn't sure if I was going to be on the show or not and literally after I called all of my Area55 members to tell them they made it for season two, I got a phone call and I was scared to death because it was like the day of or the day before I heard the rumors about me getting traded to Minnesota. So everybody in the office, when they heard my phone ring, and I said it was my agent,...dead quiet and I thought I was getting traded to Minnesota. Then I heard the good news that I was actually going to make a cameo and possibly a couple of other episodes. So I was pretty happy for me to not only still be with the Pacers but also be able to do something that I always said I wanted to, be on TV for something other than basketball at some point in my life. I'm happy I was part of the show.

Listen to the whole interview here for a lively conversation with Big Roy. Earlier in the interview Wells put Roy on the spot and after a big laugh, Hibbert admitted that playing for Jim O'Brien was tougher than trying to act with the professionals at NBC. JOB may not have shown much confidence in Roy, but the big fella was confident in his performance on the set.

To tell you the truth though, I feel so confident in my scenes and in the show that I think that I could be the first athlete to win an Emmy before he wins a championship.

Fabulous stuff, 55. Mike Wells even gave Hibbert some praise on his game and fitness level after seeing him during the player-run workouts last week. Hibbert says he put on 20 pounds since last season and Wells backed him up saying his upper body actually fills out a muscle shirt now.

After the jump, plenty of less-fun, lockout-related links as negotiations continue heating up for this weekend.

• NBA Lockout Update: Where The Settlement Lies - Sheridan
• Efforts to save season reach 'key moment' - CBSSports.com
• Stern aims to close out labor win - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
• David Stern threatens NBA season as negotiating tactic | ProBasketballTalk
• Kobe Bryant, LeBron James called to NBPA meeting on Friday - Sam Amick - SI.com
• Businesses worried about impact if NBA lockout continues - fox59.com
• NBA lockout heads to key stretch this weekend - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
• David Stern's scary talk - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN
• One group of owners holds key to salvaging NBA season - Michael Rosenberg - SI.com
• NBA lockout -- Billy Hunter calls stars to Friday meeting, sources say - ESPN