By BRIAN A. LESTER, Sports Writer

Most of us knew the time would come this season when Michael Jordan would look, well, human. We knew, we just didn’t want to accept it.

It’s tough to do that because fans want to believe that their heroes never grow old. That Father Time is prohibited from touching them.

But Jordan is not untouchable.

He is 39; it is clear his body is beginning to betray him. He has tendinitis in both knees and there is a chance he’ll require surgery on his left knee during the offseason, which would no doubt dramatically decrease his chances of coming back for one last go-round in D.C.

Jordan already missed 12 games this year after having surgery on his right knee near the end of February. And while he is back with Washington as it tries to make a desperate last push toward the playoffs, he has not been effective. He hasn’t played more than 23 minutes in any of the games since his return and has failed to reach double figures twice. Take all of that into consideration and you have to believe Jordan will hang up his sneakers once and for all come April.

Still, it would be foolish to bet against him. After all, Jordan has defied the odds by his play since coming out of retirement for a second time.

Critics said he would embarrass himself by returning to the NBA. They said Jordan was foolish to believe he could make the woeful Wizards a respectable basketball team.

Heck, even I was skeptical.

I wanted my lasting image of Jordan to be of his picture postcard, championship-clinching jump shot over Utah’s Byron Russell in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. I didn’t want to see him reduced to average on a team that had won just 19 games a year ago and 66 in the last three.

Yet, there was Jordan. On the floor determined to prove us all wrong.

He dropped 19 on the Knicks in a season-opening loss at New York, but tattooed the Hawks for 31 two nights later in a victory over Atlanta.

Yes, the Wizards started the season slow, stumbling to 2-9 out of the gate.

But Jordan refused to let this team shrivel up and die, and the Wizards won 12 of their next 15 games, including nine in a row, to improve to 14-12. The Wizards have been as high as five games above .500, boasting a 26-21 mark after a victory over Sacramento in early February, but have hit the skids lately and find themselves fighting to stay in the playoff hunt.

Still, it’s hard to rip Jordan despite his team’s current place in the NBA standings, which was 33-38 as of March 28. He is the team’s leading scorer (23.6 points per game), the Wizards’ third-best rebounder (5.8 boards per outing) and has 84 steals to his credit. Not too shabby for someone approaching 40.

You can say what you want about Jordan. That he tarnished his image by coming back or that he should have known old age would get the best of him.

However, I admire Jordan for taking the risk. He put his reputation on the line and proved that while he might not be able to leap as high as he once did or run up and down the floor as quickly as he once did, he can still play this game at a high level.

Whether Jordan comes back next season is up in the air, but we already know this much: Jordan is one of the best of all time, if not the best of all time, and old age could never change that.