With Michael Jordan’s potential comeback hanging in the air, so to speak, it just so happens that NBA commissioner David Stern put in a recent call to the Wizards’ president himself.
“I have spoken to him to inquire generally about his health and he tells me that he’s feeling good and he’s working out and he’s still a bit above his playing weight,” Stern said yesterday. “He’s given me no indication that he’s planning to come back, but he hasn’t said that he’s not planning to come back.
“My view is that if you’ve got the best player on the planet who can still play at the level that he was playing at, he’s going to be welcomed back, period.”
At the same time, Stern said he wonders whether Jordan, upon his return, would indeed resume his place as the league’s top player. At 38 (he turns 39 next February), how would Jordan fare against, say, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter or Ray Allen?
Of course, as Stern surely knows, this is exactly the kind of talk that could motivate a Jordan comeback.
“I think that he may have been the greatest player when he retired, but it’s an interesting question whether he still would be. I’m not sure,” Stern said. “I think those players would very much like the opportunity to test themselves against Michael. The thing that everyone would be interested in is whether Michael Jordan, at 39, is the same dominating player that he was when he was three years younger.”
Jordan, who is also a part-owner of the Wizards, has reiterated on several occasions that there is a “99.9 percent chance” that he won’t play again. Still, the six-time NBA champion has been conspicuously playing basketball of late, sometimes practicing with the Wizards, heightening speculation that he’ll return next season. Even Wizard owner Abe Pollin said last week that he expects Jordan to reappear in the league.
With television ratings dropping since Jordan’s retirement in ’98, Stern realizes that No. 23’s return could give the league a much-needed boost. However, Stern said that Jordan’s reemergence, after the initial fervor, would not necessarily inspire the NBA, NBC and Turner Broadcasting to make the Wizards a regular attraction.