Deciding that the third retirement is the charm, Michael Jordan declared yesterday that he will leave the basketball floor for good when this season ends.

Speaking after practice yesterday, Jordan, in his second season with the Washington Wizards, said he was "100 percent sure that after this I'm done."

Jordan, who retired twice during his 13-year career with the Chicago Bulls, left wiggle room for a return after each of those retirements, and again when he joined the Wizards as president of basketball operations during the 2000-01 season.

Yesterday, however, he definitively ruled out a chance that he would play a third season in Washington after relinquishing his front-office duties following the 2000-2001 season to sign a two-year contract for the veteran's minimum salary of $1 million a year.

"I tell you right now that I'm just fulfilling my contract," Jordan told The Washington Post and Carroll County Times. "At the end of this season, I'm not looking at another contract. I just want to finish this year out."

Jordan, who is averaging 16.6 points this season, has been coming off the bench in an attempt to limit his minutes after missing 22 games last year because of knee ailments.

But, Jordan, a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player who led the Bulls to six titles, hinted after a loss last Saturday in Memphis that he wanted more game minutes, particularly if Washington's younger players didn't produce.

"There's no reason to save it for next year," Jordan said after the loss to the Grizzlies. "Not that we're panicking, but I think it is important for us to start showing a good team consistently. If that means I've got to be on the floor, great. If we can do it without me on the floor, you won't hear nothing from me."

He continued on that theme after practice Monday, saying, "I'd rather live in the moment. I'm a guy who'd rather live for now. If they [young players] step forward and play, I may not get the increase in minutes and you won't hear me gripe.

"If they don't play well and we're not winning, we've got to go to an area you can count on and I hope they can count on me from a coach's standpoint."

Jordan played 34 minutes and scored a season-high 28 points in the Wizards' 88-84 loss to Indiana on Tuesday night in Washington, hitting three three-pointers, but also missing key free throws down the stretch as the Wizards unsuccessfully tried to come back from 19 points down to the Pacers, whom they face tonight in Indianapolis.

Jordan indicated that he would seek to return to his duties as the team's president of basketball operations, though it was not immediately clear whether he would attempt to re-purchase the estimated 10 percent of team stock that he was forced to sell when he returned to active playing status.

Wizards tonight

Opponent: Indiana Pacers

Site: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

Time: 8

TV/Radio: CN8, Ch. 50/WTEM (980 AM)