Michael Jordan is dominating the NBA again, but at an unusual time of year. This time it's not spring forward, it's fall back. Jordan is the story in October and November when the NBA normally isn't much of a story at all.

Nobody knows whether he will even be around in March, and only those who truly believe Jordan to be some kind of deity give his team, the Washington Wizards, the slightest chance of being around in June.

So while accepting Jordan's third coming as a totally unanticipated media and marketing blessing, the NBA is a little wary of placing too much emphasis on it. Jordan has walked away from basketball twice before under conditions far more favorable than the current ones.

Jordan has said he wants to play two more years. But he will be 39 in February, and there is no precedent for a basketball player coming back at his age. There may be no stopping him, but there is also nothing to stop him from walking away.

We know he can drop 40 points on the New Jersey Nets with fresh legs in October.

But we don't know yet how he will react with his knees and his back aching and his team going nowhere in March.