ATLANTA -- Where, when and how is not clear yet, but players from both teams in Sunday's All-Star Game plan to pay their respects to Michael Jordan in what they fully expect to be his 14th and final appearance.

Rest assured it will be emotional, too.

"Maybe we could just sit there and cry," Western Conference point guard Stephon Marbury said. "I know I'm going to cry. It's something we'll never see again, and no matter what anyone says, we're all fans, every one of us. It's like losing a brother you never had."

	The All-Stars are pondering the perfect way to honor Michael Jordan in Atlanta.

Tracy McGrady, who along with Allen Iverson already paid homage by offering Jordan his spot in the Eastern Conference starting lineup, said the players will discuss how to collectively show their appreciation. "We've got to come up with something," he said. "It's something in the making."

Mavs guard Steve Nash agreed. "He should be honored in some way," Nash said. "It's the end of an amazing time. He's larger than life."

There has been media speculation that Jordan could reverse course and not retire as he has stated, but none of the players here can see that. With the general sense being that the Wizards will be hard-pressed to make the playoffs, this could be the last and best chance to thank Jordan in a setting that isn't tinged bittersweet by failure as this latest comeback falls short of its intended purpose. Pacers center Brad Miller lauded Jordan for all he's contributed to the game, but he has witnessed what used to be so easy turn hard.

"This is really, really, really pushing it," he said. "It's just so demanding chasing around players 15 years younger than he is. This is the real last glimpse."

Neither Jordan nor Iverson attended Friday's media session. Neither did Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd, who apparently were detained in the New York area by weather. Ben Wallace, whose mother recently died, and Chris Webber, who is injured, also didn't attend. Yao Ming attracted the biggest throng with reporters surrounding him once he entered the room. The rumbling herd escorted him to a far corner, where the cameras and notebooks stood nine deep. The two dozen reporters clustered around a speaker providing an English translation of Yao's comments were five times more than the group greeting Shaquille O'Neal, Yao's All-Star backup, who arrived a few minutes later and sat down at a table 20 feet from the Yao crowd.

Comparisons to Magic Johnson's last All-Star appearance in 1992, in which Tim Hardaway gave his starting spot to the HIV-diagnosed Lakers star, have prompted suggestions that the teams will collaborate to make sure Jordan wins the MVP award. Grizzlies guard Wesley Person, who will compete in tonight's 3-point shooting contest, doesn't believe Jordan would accept any such contrivance any more than he would a starter's spot.

	“	I respect Michael more for not accepting the starting role because he felt like he didn't earn it. He's old school. The competitor he is, he wouldn't accept being given the MVP award, either. He'd want to earn it. ”
		— Wesley Person

"It's different," Person said. "I respect Michael more for not accepting the starting role because he felt like he didn't earn it. He's old school. The competitor he is, he wouldn't accept being given the MVP award, either. He'd want to earn it."

But Mashburn won't be surprised if the game tilts in a certain direction, with all passes and lanes leading to Jordan. "I think it's going to naturally flow that way," he said. "I know I'm going to sit right next to him, so I'll be in every picture of Jordan's last All-Star game. And I'm going to pick his brain. Not for a basketball perspective but a business perspective. I'm in awe of what he's done at the level he's done it."

While he's expected to return to his job as team president of the Wizards next season -- along with resuming part ownership of the franchise -- the league could be grooming him for something else. He's staying in the commissioner's hotel, not the player's hotel, while in Atlanta.

AND ONES: The dunk contest was won Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden. Nothing anyone does Saturday night with a ball, himself, and an unprotected rim will compare to the image of Kobe Bryant taking off from the right side of the lane, soaring past Latrell Sprewell and hammering a reverse jam in an important win for the Lakers. That's why the dunk contest will never recapture its previous luster, unless some gargantuan purse is put on the line to create a competitive buzz -- great dunks, in and of themselves, are being thrown down in regular competition like never before. ... Chris Gatling is back from his stint playing in Russia and has returned to Florida, where rumor has it he'll be opening up a night club. Gatling, who went overseas this fall, lasted far longer than Yinka Dare and J.R. Reid did in China. The two went to play in the Chinese Basketball Association last week and returned a day later. Another ex-NBAer, Ike Austin, apparently is sticking with it. ... Stephon Marbury is competing in the newly conceived Skills Challenge against Gary Payton, Jason Kidd and Tony Parker, even though he got his first look at the obstacle course Friday afternoon and had no idea the contest would be televised. His biggest concern is the part where he has to put a bounce pass through a cut-out hole. "That's an all-timer," he said. ... The Wisdom of Innocence, by the Bulls' Tyson Chandler. Asked how difficult it was to learn the triangle offense, Chandler said: "It wasn't as hard learning the triangle as it was actually playing in it."

Ric Bucher covers the NBA for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ric.bucher@espnmag.com. Also, send a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.