This was Reinsdorf's reply on Friday when asked whether the preseason announcement that Phil Jackson will not return as coach of the Bulls next season is, as the French saying goes, a fact accomplished.
And the notation on the desk of Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago Bulls, also indicates his position regarding Michael Jordan's often-stated contention that he will play for no other coach than Jackson, and he will play for no other team than the Bulls, which would mean no Jordan filling up the nets next season.
The Bulls make their final regular-season appearance at Madison Square Garden this afternoon against the Knicks, and it seems inconceivable that Jordan will not return for yet another year, and that neither Jackson nor Scottie Pippen will be with the Bulls, either.
Jordan, still the world's greatest hoopster, is leading the National Basketball Association in scoring for the 10th time in his 14 seasons. Even at age 35, he is playing as good an all-round game as ever. Fans, players and team executives know this, so it can hardly be lost on Jordan himself.
It is also obvious that His Airness -- a little less airy these days and a little more earthy but ever sovereign -- is having a grand time at his occupation, and satisfying that remarkable lust for competition and success that has made him an indomitable basketball player.
Jordan has changed his mind before, remember. He quit basketball to play baseball and quit baseball to play basketball.
But hadn't decisions already been made? As recently as early February, Jerry Krause, the Bulls' general manager, reiterated that Jackson would not return next season, after having led the Bulls to five championships and, if the best-laid plans of Krause and his men do not go awry, to a sixth come June.
The personality, or perhaps ego, clash between Jackson and Krause is no secret. While he hired Jackson, Krause also believes that after a certain time, a general manager and a coach may tire of each other, as, has been said, Jerry West and Pat Riley did with the Lakers, thereby compelling a change.
In fact, personality clashes between Krause and some of his players, including Pippen and Jordan, and assistant coaches over the years have been no secret. It seems, however, that Krause has had no such conflict with the owner of the team. But it also seems clear that Reinsdorf has sought for Krause and staff to zipper their lips in regard to what may transpire at season's end.
Still, Reinsdorf's respect for Krause as a basketball operative is lofty, and for good reason. Krause became general manager in 1985, the year after Jordan was drafted. Six seasons later, the Bulls won the first of their championships.
''Everyone on the first championship team except Jordan was acquired by Krause,'' Reinsdorf said. That included Pippen, astutely attained in a trade for his draft rights and now seemingly headed elsewhere next season as a free agent, although who knows for sure.
Pippen, who will be 33 in September, doesn't talk to Krause, but he does talk to Reinsdorf. And while Pippen is said to be seeking a huge five-year contract, Reinsdorf said he had yet to hear anything like that from Pippen, who has been bitter about what the Bulls have been paying him but has also been making plenty of money with endorsements.
Krause took a chance on Dennis Rodman. He found a place for Steve Kerr. He traded a nonentity, Stacey King, for center Luc Longley. He traveled for years to Europe to court Toni Kukoc, and finally snared him. He saw the possibilities in Ron Harper's career being revived.
Yes, Krause has had Jordan all this time, but Jordan found that he couldn't do it alone. He didn't win his first championship until his seventh season in the league -- with a requisite ''supporting cast,'' as Jordan termed it.
Krause has surely made mistakes, too, such as some draft picks.
Krause, meanwhile, sometimes says things without a veneer of suavity. He can rankle in his bluntness, or, sometimes, in his evasiveness. And possibly he is frustrated in not receiving much of the due he believes he deserves.
When he received his championship ring for last season along with the rest of the team at the season opener at the United Center, the boos for him were evident. It was odd, since if he had been the general manager of five championships in, say, New York, he could be Mayor of this town -- and on a write-in ballot.
So at what point do you make a decision to break up the team?
Looking at their history, it is manifest that as a twosome neither Krause nor Reinsdorf is so stupid or driven by ego that he will perpetrate the sublimely imbecilic.
The view here is that Jordan will definitely be playing next season with the Bulls, with or without Jackson. But the odds of Jackson returning appear healthy, as well, especially if the Bulls win another title.
If there is one exception to ''Nothing is written in stone,'' it is this: It's a bottom-line game.