Michael Jordan is almost back.
Jordan on Monday told the Associated Press and other reporters outside his Chicago restaurant his return to the NBA would be “for the love of the game,” and that he views winning in many different ways, not just on the scoreboard.
Although it is Jordan’s most direct indication since he retired after the 1997-98 season that he does intend to play this season, he also later denied the reports that he had all but confirmed his return.
“I didn’t say that,” Jordan told the Washington Post on Monday night. “I have not said that.”
Jordan, 38, said he would make an announcement in the next 10 days at a news conference in Washington. He would play for the Wizards and his former Bulls coach Doug Collins. NBA training camps begin in three weeks.
“Winning isn’t always about championships,” Jordan said. “It doesn’t always have to be on the scoreboard at the end of the game. Sometimes making the playoffs is like winning the championship. What’s wrong with helping young kids find their way?”
Those comments appeared to be Jordan’s way of answering the questions of many of how the man who seemed to live for winning could join a team like the Wizards, who won 19 games last season and may miss the playoffs again this season.
Even friends of Jordan have said that he left basketball the perfect way, by hitting the game-winning shot against the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA Finals to win his sixth championship with the Bulls. The only two seasons between 1990-91 and 1997-98 the Bulls did not win a championship Jordan did not start the season with the team because he was playing minor-league baseball after his first retirement in 1993.
Jordan seemed to finally retire in 1999 when he again held a news conference at the United Center at which he issued his standard 99.9 percent certainty that his career was over.
But media reports last spring, starting in Sports Illustrated, said Jordan was again considering a comeback, probably with such former rivals as Charles Barkley. Barkley has since backed away, but Jordan continues to work out against NBA players at his West Side gym and said Monday he now rated his game at eight on a 1-to-10 scale. With the NBA season not scheduled to begin for seven weeks, it seems likely that Jordan figures he can return to his superstar form by then.
Perhaps not by coincidence, the NBA has scheduled Washington to open the season against the Knicks on Oct. 30 in New York’s Madison Square Garden, regarded as the premier basketball setting in the world. The Wizards’ first home game is Nov. 3 against the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers.
Jordan has experienced some setbacks in his training since April. He suffered broken ribs and has had tendinitis in his knees and a sore back. Many have speculated that Jordan, who was virtually injury free in his playing career with the Bulls, is more prone to injury now after not playing in the NBA for more than three years.
Questions have persisted about whether Jordan’s body could endure the 82-game grind of an NBA season, and why Jordan would want to put up with it after generally being acknowledged as the best to ever play his sport. He has admitted there will be “a lot of naysayers” and last week talked of being “crucified” by the media if he returns.
But Jordan on Monday also said he looked forward to playing for several years and this was not a short-term experiment. Jordan holds the all-time NBA record for scoring average at 31.5 points per game, which he could surrender if he plays several years and averages fewer than 30 points per game. He also ranks fourth all time in total points scored, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Wilt Chamberlain, and could move up on that list.
Jordan admitted, despite all his money, fame and accomplishments, he cannot replace the competition of the NBA game in his life.
Jordan’s return would be a boost to the NBA, which has suffered sagging TV ratings and attendance since his retirement in 1998. Jordan’s sponsors also are said to be preparing big commercial blitzes if Jordan returns, and he figures to profit from those contracts as well. When he last played for the Bulls he earned $33.6 million per season. But the Wizards are above the salary cap and cannot pay Jordan more than about $4 million.
It was less than two years ago that Jordan, amid much festivity in Washington, signed a five-year deal to become the Wizards’ president of basketball operations.
Jordan also received an equity share, which now must be sold back to the team, at least temporarily, because players cannot have an ownership share in the team.
Jordan met with league officials about a month ago to determine that process.
