Say It Ain’t So, Mike

Michael Jordan, the basketball superstar who influenced everything from fashion to the Dow Jones average, will announce his retirement from the NBA this week, several news outlets citing unnamed sources reported Monday.

After the NBA narrowly averted a shutdown of the entire season last week, it now faces the daunting task of trying to win back fans without the premier draw in sports.

His retirement--which according to some sources could come as early as today--should also serve as the keystone toppling the Chicago Bulls, winners of three consecutive championships and six of the past eight.

Bulls management and Jordan’s agent, David Falk, did not address the situation Monday night.

‘I don’t have any reaction. I don’t have any comments,” said Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf when reached at his Arizona home.

His friend, Charles Barkley, has been telling everyone who asked for the past few months that Jordan would not be coming back.

After playing an active role in negotiations to reach a labor agreement and end the owner-imposed lockout that began July 1, Jordan was conspicuously removed from the scene as the battle reached its final stages early this month. When NBA Commissioner David Stern and union leader Billy Hunter reached a compromise in the early morning hours last Wednesday, Jordan was on vacation in the Bahamas.

As soon as the deal was announced, all eyes turned to Jordan to see what his move would be. Players, agents and sports marketers all said his presence would go a long way toward restoring interest and credibility in a league that never missed a game to a labor dispute prior to this season. The Jordan Watch even brought about the unusual sights of players on rival teams in the Eastern Conference, whom essentially have been shut out of the NBA finals in recent years by Jordan, hoping for his return.

No group held out more desperate hopes than Chicago Bulls fans, for his retirement meant the end of their dynasty. With Jordan, the Bulls would have been high on the short list of contenders for the NBA championship. Without him, they have little incentive to re-sign older, costly free agents such as Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

Even though the new labor agreement put a limit on high end salaries, a grandfather clause would have allowed Jordan to re-sign for 105% of his 1997-98 salary, or $34.7 million, pro-rated over the shortened, 50-game season.

However, his always contemptuous relationship with Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause and an increasingly leery view of Reinsdorf cast doubt on his return. In addition, the Bulls brought in Krause’s hand-chosen coach, Iowa State’s Tim Floyd, to replace Phil Jackson--although Floyd offered to stand aside if Jackson wished to return.

Jordan vowed several times during the past two seasons that he would not play for any coach other than Jackson, the Bulls’ head coach since 1989. Reinsdorf made one final pitch for Jackson to return last week, but Jackson turned him down.

Even though he was consumed with winning, Jordan grew to represent more than just basketball.

His look--the shaved head, loose shorts, sweatband hiked up to the elbow--was duplicated on playgrounds all over the country, including the mandatory pair of his signature shoes, Air Jordan.

He became the most recognizable figure in sports, and he endorsed, hamburgers, soft drinks, cars, hot dogs, batteries and long-distance carriers, to name a few. In 1993, a Chicago Tribune story estimated that sales of tickets and merchandise related to Jordan had generated $1 billion for the city of Chicago. A Fortune magazine article last year estimated he helped pump $10 billion into the national economy.

Late last week, Laker Executive Vice President Jerry West said that, despite his tremendous impact, the league’s future isn’t riding on Jordan’s shoulders:

“It’s a terrible burden to try to put the whole league on one person’s shoulders because the league does not revolve around Michael Jordan,” West said. “Michael Jordan is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. I absolutely admire him as an athlete more than anyone. I can probably say I’m a friend of his.

“But this league is going to succeed without Michael Jordan. Obviously, having him here would be good because of the negative things and he seems to find some way to make all these negative things go away.

“But to say the league is going to sink without Michael Jordan is just not the case.”

Laker guard Eddie Jones differed with West. “I think without Michael it’s going to be really really hard for the NBA to get back to the way it was,” said Jones.

The league has had to go without Jordan before. He retired on the eve of training camp in 1993.

Jordan tried to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing baseball, and spent the summer of 1994 with the Double-A Birmingham affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, also owned by Reinsdorf.

When that sport went through labor strife, he left camp in the following year’s spring training. He then returned to the Bulls, playing the final 17 games of the regular season. In the playoffs that year, Jordan’s Bulls made an uncustomary second-round exit at the hands of the Orlando Magic.

The news of Jordan’s return to basketball boosted the stocks of several companies he endorsed, such as Nike and McDonald’s.

And, of course, he helped the ticket sales and television ratings of the NBA. The league currently has a $2.6 billion television contract and last year’s NBA Finals set a league ratings record.

For sports fans, Jordan’s highest NBA moments stick in the mind like rites of passage.

The time he scored an NBA playoff record 63 points at Boston.

The switch-hands-in-midair layup against the Lakers in the 1991 NBA finals.

The Shot and The Shot II, to knock the Cleveland Cavaliers out of the playoffs in 1989 and 1993.

The shrug after his six three-point baskets in the first half of an NBA Finals game in 1992.

The 55 points he scored in Madison Square Garden after he returned from baseball.

The Sick Game, when he shook off flu effects and scored 38 points to lead the Bulls past the Jazz in a critical Game 5 of the 1997 finals.

He leaves, if not at the top of his game, then at a plateau rarely touched by others in the 52-year history of the league.

He led the NBA in scoring for a record 10th time last year, but his average of 28.7 points was his lowest for a full season since his rookie season.

Nevertheless, he still seemed able to summon greatness when needed most, including the last minute of Game 6 of the NBA finals last year, when he had a steal and two baskets--including the game-winning jump shot with 5.2 seconds--to deliver the Bulls their sixth title.

Staff writer Tim Kawakami and the Associated Press contributed to this story.