Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin ended his team's 31/2-year association with Michael Jordan yesterday in a brief, acrimonious meeting at MCI Center in which Pollin informed Jordan that he would not be re-signed as president of basketball operations.

The highly anticipated summit had been arranged so that Jordan, 40, could ask the 79-year-old owner for his old job after spending the past two years as a Wizards player, selling out every game and making an unprofitable franchise profitable. But before Jordan could make his case, Pollin began the meeting by informing him of his dismissal, sources said. From there, the discussion quickly escalated into shouting and invective that one person familiar with the meeting described as being as bad as it could get without fists flying.

"I want to emphasize my sincere thanks to Michael for his time with this franchise," Pollin said in a statement. "In the end, Ted [Leonsis, a minority owner] and I felt that this franchise should move in a different direction."

However, several Leonsis allies were said to be stunned by yesterday's events, believing right up until the start of the 11:30 a.m. meeting, which also included Pollin attorney David Osnos and Jordan attorney Curtis Polk, that Jordan had at least a 50-50 chance to convince Pollin that he should be rehired.

Those sources said Leonsis heard the news, sitting in the meeting, at the same time Jordan did. Leonsis's allies, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity, said they were incensed that Pollin did not even wait to hear out Jordan and were also angry about the Wizards' news release, which they said was written without Leonsis's knowledge.