Gee, hadn't we just started lauding Michael Jordan for his off-the-court expertise in trying to rebuild the moribund Wizards? Now he's going to actually play for them?

	Is Michael Jordan planning to give up the business suit for a jersey?

Stranger things have happened -- I'm trying to think of something -- but the latest "exclusive" about another comeback by Jordan is pretty hard to fathom. We all know Jordan has an insatiable lust for competition. We all know he probably still feels he could go out and get 30 every night. We all know that he has pushed the envelope before.

But none of that comes even close to addressing the following, which is the natural outgrowth of such a supposition: Michael Jordan wants to return to the NBA at the tender age of 38 to play for the Wizards? For the veteran minimum? (David Falk got a huge yuck out of that.) As Falk so eloquently put it, "if it ever did happen, he would play for the Michael Jordan minimum."

Jordan practices with these guys every so often. He apparently watches them all the time. He knows they're terrible. He also knows they're going to be terrible next season. All the work that MJ did over the past few weeks to shed unwanted players and/or salaries is so that the Wizards can be competitive in the open market in the summer of 2002. They have no shot next summer at anything other than what everyone else has: offering someone the mid-level exception.

He's supposed to play for Leonard Hamilton? A college coach? Remember what he said about Tim Floyd? Phil Jackson is unavailable and that was always part of any Jordan Returns! Scenario. He is supposed to do this after spending three years out of the game? Remember what Nick Anderson said after Jordan came back from baseball? Something about him losing a step. Anderson was right and Jordan knew it. Jordan then went to work and the Bulls never lost another playoff series while he was there.

And you can't understate the age factor. This is not Ted Williams losing three years of his career while he was still in his prime. This is more like Bob Cousy trying a comeback at age 41 after being out of the game for six years. Jordan retired at the age of 35, which is generally a good time to leave unless you happen to be a marginally skilled center. Then you can play until you're 40. But Jordan could no more return and accept a less-than-dominating role on a team than he could concede a 2-foot putt in a $1,000 Nassau.

He's supposed to divest himself of his substantial holdings in the Wizards to scratch this apparently persistent itch? He spent a couple years trying to find the most fortuitous business situation and now he's going to shuck it? Of course, it could only be a temporary thing, but Michael and his money are rarely parted. Except, of course, on the golf course.

Even Jordan can't be delusional enough to think that his mere presence is going to turn dross into gold. Let's suppose for a second that he does come back. What's he going to do when he gets double-teamed, toss it into Jahidi White in the post? That would make him pine for Luc Longley. Kick it back to Chris Whitney? The Wizards have exactly one player -- Richard Hamilton -- who could be construed as a real, valued asset. Jordan is supposed to come back and play with that crew?

We also know that the argument extends to Jordan's allure. With him actually playing, free agents will flock to Washington. That's the supposition. But you'd have a better chance finding an ethical lobbyist in Washington. Chris Webber is going to sign there for the mid-level exception because he could play maybe one season with Jordan? Yeah, that's going to happen. We haven't even touched on Charles Barkley, who is looking more and more like Orson Welles every time I turn on TNT. He's going to turn it around with MJ?

In fairness to his Airness, he dismissed the report and, according to the Washington Post, was exasperated to have to respond to it. Understandably, he's getting tired of the comeback talk, even if it's generated by someone "close" to him. Falk ridiculed it, saying there was less than one-tenth of one percent of a chance. It may be hard for a player of Jordan's stature not to want to keep the flame burning; that was the problem with Magic Johnson's short reign as the coach of the Lakers. He thought he still should be playing.

Jordan is supposed to be punishing himself daily in the gym and weight room to get back? Here's what he's doing: spending time posting up dot-commers, investment bankers and insurance salesmen and working up a sweat. That's supposed to indicate that he's driven to get back into game-shape for a comeback? That indicates that he likes to play basketball, that he wants to get some exercise and, like many of us who now understand their metabolism better, that certain things tend to stay on the frame as you get older. His playing weight was listed at 215. He said he had, uh, grown to 240. As Falk noted, "he's working out, but it's because he's uncomfortable with the way his suits fit, not to get measured for a Washington Wizards uniform."

The problem with such a story, however, is that many who have seen the NBA since Jordan left would love to see him come back. It points to something far more dangerous -- that David Stern is presiding over an increasingly unwatchable game and league which is so desperate for attention and star-power that it needs Jordan to make another comeback and resuscitate it. That is sad.

But it was sad while Jordan was still playing. Everyone glossed over the inadequacies because Michael and the Bulls were must-see and always won in the end. Michael and the Wizards? It was hard enough envisioning Jordan doing the day job as a horse trader. It's even harder to envision him risking sullying his basketball image by making yet another comeback. This isn't baseball, where he could take a risk. This is his lifeblood.

When Jordan came back for a second run, he saw where baseball was going (labor strife) and knew that he could walk back onto a ready-made championship team and situation. He then led the Bulls to three more titles and left everyone with that one, unforgettable image -- hitting the game-winner in Game 6.

That is -- and should be -- his playing legacy.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.