The comeback begins early this week, the moment an unretired All-Star positions himself between Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell at halfcourt. The ball is tipped and Michael Jordan, so often labeled "the old man" next to the N.B.A.'s youngsters, will again play his game and dream his dream.

But an aged, if less visible, man will also be enjoying a renaissance at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. His franchise is suddenly engulfed in the kind of genuine buzz ? people talking up professional basketball in Washington ? not seen since Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes delivered an N.B.A. championship in 1978.

"I've heard Michael is getting up there," Abe Pollin, the 77-year-old owner of the Washington Wizards, said. "I just laugh. I'm the old man."