Jordan "all but confirms" comeback as player

Michael Jordan has "all but confirmed" that he will play again in the NBA, CNNSI.com reported on Monday.

Jordan said there was "a mechanism in place for a news conference to announce his return in Washington, D.C., sometime in the next 10 days", basketball writer Marty Burns reported.

"In a half-hour conversation on the curb outside Hoops the Gym on Monday, Jordan all but confirmed that he'll be coming out of retirement again," Burns wrote.

Jordan, an executive and part owner of the Washington Wizards, has been scrimmaging with selected players behind closed doors at the Chicago gym to see if he could regain the fitness to play again in the league in which he won six championships with the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan told a small group, which also included reporters from The Associated Press and the Chicago Sun-Times, that his knees felt fine and that barring any recurrence of his tendinitis, "he's coming back", the Cable News Network/Sports Illustrated website reported.

The Associated Press carried a story similar to the CNNSI.com report. The Chicago Sun-Times had no such story on its website on Monday night.

Rating himself on a performance scale of one to 10, Jordan now said he was 7 1/2 or 8, up from earlier estimates, the CNNSI.com story said.

NOW "MATURED"

Jordan would have to divest his ownership share under NBA rules, and would play for the Wizards if he came out of retirement. He has said he would make a decision in September.

Asked if he could accept playing for a losing team like the Wizards, Jordan said he had "matured" and now knew that "winning isn't always about championships", Burns wrote.

Jordan, when asked why he would come back, replied: "For the love of the game, nothing else", the website said.

Burns wrote that as Jordan got into his car to drive away, he told the reporters: "You guys got your story".

Jordan, who retired after winning his sixth title in 1998 with a memorable final shot against the Utah Jazz, has battled two broken ribs, back spasms and the knee tendinitis many NBA players encounter while working out this U.S. summer to explore the possibility of a return.

Last week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Jordan as saying he was about "50-50" on whether to return.

"I could still say no," Jordan told the Sun-Times. "I'm waiting for the light to go on. I'm getting closer. I want to make sure my knee can withstand what I have to go through in a season."

He said then that he was worried that critics would "crucify" him if he returned but did not meet expectations.

"If things don't go quite like people expect them to go, you know I'll be crucified," Jordan was quoted by the newspaper as saying following a workout last Tuesday.