He signed a two year contract last September after much debate over his future, and while he is not even through his comeback season and we are already re-asking the same old question.. will Michael Jordan play in the NBA next season?

If you ask his coach Doug Colins what he thinks Jordan's response might be right now and he'd say no.  But ever since Jordan signed the two year contract he has maintained his desire to fulfil his obligations, but this offseason more than any other his decision might be dependant on the wear and tear on his body.  For this reason Collins states that he'd be 'suprised' if Jordan played next season.

"I'd be surprised next year if he did play," Collins said. "[This] could be [his final season]; I don't know. I just think the wear and tear . . . I'm not saying he's not going to play but right now it's up in the air."

A Wizards team official said that Collins was simply stating his opinion because not even Jordan knows what he is going to do yet.  One thing is for certain, Jordan will be letting the Wizards know much sooner what he plans on doing so they can build their team accordingly.  While last year the Wizards had to go through the draft then free agency with the status of Jordan up in the air, this time round Jordan plans on letting the organization know before the draft in June.  Steve Wyche of the Washington Post reports that as recent as last Wednesday Jordan said he planned to play next season unless he had a physical setback.

"My contract is two years," Jordan said in January. "Obviously, the way I feel and with all I have to deal with -- all the different [health] problems -- it's a different thought process at the end of the year."

"We'll sit down and talk after the season," Collins said. "Last year, we did not know he was going to play until after the draft and all. This year he said we'd know what he's going to do before the draft so we can move forward with what we have to do."

"I don't think there's any assurances how he's going to be able to play next year and go through a full 82-game season. Michael's got great pride. He doesn't want to come back next year and be injured and go through the season where he's on the injured list."

In other Wizards news the team current sits 2 1/2 game out of the final playoff place with only 11 games to go.  Collins said that Jordan's knee is roughly 65% healed from the surgery but he wanted to come back and play to help will the team to a playoff berth.  Playing around 20 minutes a game off the bench for the Wizards, Collins said he simply is not ready for more.

"He's not ready to play more minutes," Collins said. "The knee is still bothering him. He doesn't have the strength in that leg back yet. I'm concerned about that. I don't want to play him and then his knee gets swollen. At the same time he wants to play and also he's got to play enough to be able to get himself in some condition. It's sort of a Catch-22."