Surgery Sidelines Jordan

Michael Jordan will probably be able to play again this season. Whether he can make it back in time to save the Washington Wizards’ drive for the playoffs is another matter.

Jordan had surgery for the first time in his career Wednesday morning. Team physician Dr. Stephen Haas found torn cartilage and debris in the 39-year-old forward’s right knee, an injury Haas said was the result of normal wear and tear for an athlete of Jordan’s caliber.

Typically, recovery time for such an operation is two to six weeks, and many variables--age, severity of the tear, workout ethic--can determine where a patient fits in that range.

The Wizards will have a better idea of Jordan’s time frame when he begins therapy after a few days of rest.

“Anytime you have a knee where you’re getting swelling, you hope that when they go in there they find something they can fix,” Coach Doug Collins said. “When I talked to Michael, he was happy they found the source of the problem and that they were able to fix it.”

If Jordan’s falls in the middle of the range--four weeks--he would miss 16 games, including the entire six-game trip in mid-March that could make or break the Wizards’ season.

He could join the trip in progress if he misses two or three weeks, but a six-week layoff wouldn’t bring him back until the final week of the regular season.

Collins cautioned that Jordan might have to choose between playing this season or next.

“There’s a lot of miles on those legs, and Michael didn’t play them at a low level,” Collins said. “Michael played at the highest of levels. Michael at 23, he’s going to heal faster than he does at 39. He knows that if he has visions of playing next year, then it would do no good to rush back and try to do something to set himself back. We’ve got to all be patient.”

Jordan, averaging 24 points, was put on the injured list Tuesday, which requires him to miss a minimum of five games, including Wednesday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and two games against his former team, the Chicago Bulls.