PTI - Dolphins release Tyreek Hill and the NBA revamps All-Star format

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon analyzes the NBA All-Star game's new format, discusses the Winter Olympics's, and covers Daytona 500 excitement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. It's the national holiday folks, but we are here working. Tell them why, Tom.

I'm Tony Kornheiser, because we're here for you. Yeah. Also, it's too cold to golf. A lot of ice still out there. And there was a slight miscommunication with our agents. That's right. And so we're here. But again, we're here for you.

Are we on the deuce? No. I don't. I don't know. I don't know. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Colin Morricawa, top strati. Sheffler, Michael Jordan's team

wins Daytona, and Bryce Harper sounds a bit miffed. But we begin today with the NBA All-Star Weekend. The Friday and Saturday night stuff, it already feels like a distant memory. Yesterday's All-Star game featured a new format, a round-robin among three teams, a young U.S.

team, an older U.S. team, and a team composed of foreign-born players. The ultimate winner was the young U.S. team in a romp over the old U.S. team. Wilbon, you have ripped the All-Star game for years. Yeah. Did this one exceed your expectations. It did.

First, I want to give a shout out, though, to the three-point shooting contest. That was real. I mean, Dane Lillard and Cognipa... No, the guys put numbers up there that they don't put up there. That's the only thing you've ever liked in the last 10 years. Yes, that's fair. That's fair.

But, Tony, I was watching Law & Order SVU, Marathon, my own marathon, all day long. And something said, eh, you got to actually appear and talk sports tomorrow. Click on the All-Star Game. at least see what it looks like. Maybe aliens have come down and we don't know.

Maybe Adam Silver, you know, arrange that. So I turn on for a second and I stayed. Do I think it was great? No. Do I think it was, did it exceed my expectations to answer your direct question? Yes. I think it was pretty good. Yeah, I thought it was watchable because I watched.

And I didn't think I was going to watch it. You know how I've ripped it. Yeah. Is this enough for me? No. But I found it interesting. I did. Okay.

So if the question is, did it exceed my expectations? The answer is no, because I had no expectations because it is a made-up game. Okay. It exists on NBC to bridge between the Winter Olympics in the early afternoon and in the primetime, you know, situation for them. That's why it was on. I don't like games that go 12 minutes. And then you move to the next game like musical chairs. I don't like that.

If you're going to play the United States against the world, play it for, 48 and make it meaningful. And this was not 48 and it was not meaningful. Now, was there stuff that was exciting? Kawhi Leonard went for 31 points in 12 minutes. Come on. 31 points. He's not even on

the original All-Star team. They have to put him on because he didn't make it and they put him on because he's the only representative from that building. So that is to be applauded at 31. But he was so pooped after that that he had one point in the next game. And the old heads, as Kevin Durant

referred to his team started out 0 for 9 in the championship game and it was that was not watchable. Let's not call it a champion. That was not competitive at all. Did some players play hard? Yes. Was there a little bit of defense? Yes. Did it look like they were trying some of them? Yes, there were fouls.

There was defense. There were steals. Luca and Yokic. They didn't play at all basically. They played five minutes. Steph Curry looked great in a sweatsuit but he wasn't going to go out there. I believe, Mike, as you believe, that there is a possibility there's a runway towards the United States

versus the world game. If you look at the NHL, is it called the Four Seasons Cup or something like that? The NBA needs to do it. Adam won't do it, Tom. I agree with a lot of what you've said here, by the way. Every basketball conversation we have, you're going to get so tired of me doing this.

Years ago it was the Lakers. You would start in January saying, are we going to talk Lakers every day? And I say, yeah, Tom, we are. Are we going to talk Wimbanyama every day? Yeah, we are. Because Wimbabon, And Mbanyama, an ant man, set the tone for this. Wemontama said, I'm going to play.

I don't care what you old heads do. Tony, he is the most important person in the sport. But I don't want to go on and on with this story, but I will tell you this. He wasn't in the final game. All right? In the final game, the meaningful game. He played well. But he wasn't in it.

No, he wasn't. So he's off to the side. And I said four seasons because that is my hotel. Because you're like to stay in. 40 minutes, not 48. You want to do 48. Just make it meaningful. This is not meaningful.

We start off the show agreeing. It's usually not good for the energy. But we're going to turn, no matter what, to the events at the Winter Olympics. The U.S. women's hockey team pounded Sweden today, 5-0 to make the gold medal game. Over in the men's, both the U.S. and Canada, rolled undefeated through the weekend and in skiing. Michaela Schifrin failed to meddle in her eighth straight Olympic race. After placing 11th in Sunday's Giant Slalom, she races the Slalom Wednesdays, So Tom, you take it away for as long as you want.

Yeah. Which storyline interests you the most. I'm going to leave the hockey to you because I know you love it and I know you watch. I want to say something in a general way about the Winter Olympics. The thing that attracts me to the Winter Olympics is the ever present physical danger to the athletes. Not in curling, not in hockey, not in figure skating, but in sliding, in skiing, in jumping. you look at these people on the skeleton, on the sleds, and you say they could kill themselves.

Miles per hours a minute. They could kill themselves. You look at the half pipe, which neither of us understands. But they're up in the air. If they fall badly onto the ice, they could crack their heads open. I'm not prepared for skiing in which you hit a ridge and suddenly you're doing double somersaults backwards in the air. So for me, this is not like the Summer Olympics we understand.

The Summer Olympics works like this. does you, Sein-Boh, get to the tape first? Right? It's not a lot of judgment. No. Does he get to the tape first? But I am, I will say, thrilled by the scary danger that I see in the Winter Olympics. The daredevil nature makes me admire it. Yeah. I'm not quite as fascinated by it as you are.

I'm just going to mention a couple of names, Tony, and I don't even have the glasses today. Deanna, Stiletto, Dudec, the Canadian figure skater. I'm going to try to do it without. I'm going to snatch you. Because you're failing at the moment. 42 years old. She was gone for 16 years and comes back at 42

and does this. I found that amazing, not Daredevil. And Elena Myers-Taylor, who went to GW, around the corner from this studio, played softball, Tony, then comes back does the women's monobob. That must be one

person on the Boston, right? And Tony, it's her sixth medal, which puts her out there with everybody. A to everybody except Bonnie Blair, who you and I both covered in the Winter Olympics. So those two things interesting. I will tell you this. You know, we fixate on Von, Lindsey Vaughn and Michaela Schifrin and the Quad God.

And as a father, and I know you feel the same, I felt terrible for him. I felt terrible for him. But I'm learning new names. Jordan Stoltz, for example, as a speed skater. And I think it's really cool that Eric Hayden is at the event and watches this kid win in the events that Eric Hayden. You think that those kids realized Eric Hayden's greatest? No, I don't. But again, I'm drawn to the physical nature of it.

What is the danger in the Summer Olympics? That somebody heaves a javelin at you. There's no other particular danger. We've seen a javel to go through somebody's arm. You and I saw that. But in these events, you have to marvel at them. I do, but you've got to start watching the hockey. It's serious now.

Canada has outscored the opponents like 22, 3, and the U.S. is on a 16-5. Everyone is expecting Canada and the United States. Let's move to golf. It's move to golf. And the great theater at Pebble Beach over the weekend. Colin Moracowell won for the first time in almost three years and needed a birdie on 18 to clinch it. Scotty Sheffler had three eagles yesterday. What?

He's the first pro to ever do that at Pebble. There was wind, there was rain, there was drama. It was basically perfect, Will, but I know you watched. You know I watched. Let's start with Moracow. What is the significance of his win? Well, Tony, I think for Moracow who won early and won a couple of majors. and certified himself as a star on the tour,

and then he hadn't won, close a lot, but hadn't won in two and a half years. It's Jordan Smith. It's the same sort of thing. When young, went early. Yes. But it is important, I guess, still, for the United States to have one of those guys up there,

and Morcau, for me, is a favorite, just of who he is personally. This is his home state of California. This was kind to him. He's had some successes there. he's charismatic. He's engaging. I just enjoy calling Morcala. And so I was happy for him. Tony, the whole thing had drama. How about when Morcau's got to wait for a total of 40 minutes for a dude out there on the beach

someplace where you and I would wander to hit a third shot? He's out. Let's get it. Let me just start with this. I knew that Sheffler was not going to win when he ended at minus 20. And I texted you in real time. You did. You said 22. I said 22 is going to win maybe 21, but not 20. This is when the last group was probably five or six holes out, and there were five guys tied at 20. Yeah. Shepler's round was amazing. Mike, he shot 63 with three eagles.

He had three bogies. Nobody's ever shot 63 with three bogies. That was great. It's his 18th straight PGA tour event where he finishes in the top 10, a full year since the players last year when he didn't, which compels us to compare him to Tiger Woods and maybe only Tiger Woods. But let's go to Morikawa. Morikawa on 18, shot 62 on Saturday, didn't have to make a long putt. His irons were that close. But he had to win a long time. So now he has to stand on the tee for 15 minutes to wait for the

tee shot on 18, tied with Minmoo Lee. Tied has to wait because there's two groups out there. Then after he hits his tea shot, he has to wait 20 more minutes. That's right. Because Jacob Bridgman is, got his feet in the Pacific Ocean and the ball on the sand waiting for a ruling. And if it felt to you and me like it took 40 more minutes, because it did. And so here is Morikawa, needing to birdie, needing to hit a second great shot, butterflies in his system, all the pressure in the world on him. And he does it. Holding a four-iron.

And he does it. And I would say that if he ever asked you, can I get a reference letter from you? You say, it's you on 18. That's a reference. And this is, Americans know, two courses, you know, foot by foot, Augusta and Pebble. And Augusta had... I mean, it's not an indoor source. studio where you were last week. I like that.

I like that, but this is, this is the real deal. And by the way, did I mention this? What? That Anthony Kim? Anthony Kim, who had not won in 15, no, 16 years. Since 2010. Since 2010, he won an event. So if you think Mori-Cowell waited a long time, Anthony Kim. Wow.

Let's take a break. But coming up, Tyler Reddick wins Daytona, but is the real headline that Michael Jordan's team did. We know that. Things didn't sound, hunky dory between Bryce Harper and Dave Dombrose. There's a fabulous golf tournament. Day after day after there's fabulous. That's just great. That's why I can't watch

in a dome. I can't watch what you're doing. You don't like people hitting balls into a bed sheet? You don't like that? You, I like that. You were interviewed. I know, I love it. You were like the sideline expert. Let's find out what's rankling a riffraff and mail time. I'll get the first one. Man, you need glasses? Riffraff now. You need glasses? I have I think not. Should we be more focused on Tyler Reddick winning Daytona or Michael Jordan winning Daytona? Daytona. Tyler Redick is great. He wouldn't even be the most famous

Reddick on this show. J.J. Reddick. Three or four more at least. Yeah. Come on. This is Michael Jordan. The two people when they win in this sport that we have to just bow, because we know them both are Joe Gibbs and Michael Jordan. Okay. And for Jordan to do this, you should say, see how excited he was at the end of it. I know you turned over and you watched the end of the race. I did late because I was streaming. For Jordan to do this, Tony, I have been there when he has performed at this highest level in this new sport.

But this is genuine excitement you see from him here in a sport that he challenged and said, we can be better. And he was vindicated, right? In court. So at least, well, through settlement, how great is this for Michael Jordan? I'm going to leave Jordan to you because, as you know, I recently saw him personally grove. That's right. You did not, and I did not.

You know, and I think it's great for the owner, and I think it's great for the driver. That's not my issue. I have another issue in this. I turned over to watch this. It was the endless Jacob Bridgman with his feet in the Pacific Ocean going on and on and on. So I turned over to Daytona. I got very lucky because there were only three laps left. So I watched it.

In the last lap of that race, twice, not once, twice. there were big wrecks right at the lead that affected the lead that affected the order. Cars were spinning wildly around. I'm waiting for the yellow flag to drop. It doesn't happen. I've never seen this before without the caution. They just let them go. They let them maneuver their way through the wreckage and the carnage and they let them go.

Too many late yellows. I will tell you this. I didn't know what was going on. I was thrilled by it. I loved it. I thought it was great. You can watch it every year, but Daytona the Great American Race. But they drop the yellow flag, and they didn't do it this time.

So Tyler Reddick was able to go. Let somebody who knows how to do this and navigated Tyler Redick. By the way, I think Brad Doherty, I shouldn't just credit only Michael Jeffrey. Wasn't Brad Doherty? Absolutely. They're North Carolinians. They grew up with all their lives. Yes.

Might have been their first love even if they had a basketball. I think so. I had this upside down, but I'm going to go without the glasses. You're making them say something. Let's see. Let's see, America. Does everything sound okay to you between Bryce Harper, formerly your boy, and Dave

Dombrovsky? Does it sound okay to me? Not at all. We will remember that right at the end of the season or a little bit afterwards, Dave Dombrovsky said of Bryce Harper, he did not have an elite season. We're going to have to wait and see, is he still elite or is he just a good player?

Bryce Harper didn't say much. Bryce Harper said some stuff yesterday. One thing he said was, I'm not motivated by this kind of stuff. A second thing he said was, I thought we were keeping this stuff in-house. And a third thing he said was, yeah, I did not have an elite year. Now, Bryce Harper is a great player with two MVPs. He's also 33 years old and probably at the end of his prime. Dave Dombrovsky has had, I don't know, 6,000 jobs as an executive in Major League Baseball.

Pretty good at this one. And has been really good at most of them. So I'm going to say this to you, Mike. I will not be surprised if by the end of the year one of these guys is going to be. from Philadelphia. I'm going to beat you to it a little bit in terms of timing. It wouldn't surprise me to see Bryce Harper traded before opening day.

Really? Why wouldn't you do it? Would you take on the rest of that contract at 33 years old? It depends on what team you are. If you think you're close, and if we believe, as we have heard writers, former players and coaches, ballplayers say Bryce Harper is a dude

in the clubhouse, then if you think you're close and Bryce Harper Harper can still give you and you hope, he can give you 20 and 80. Of course he can do that. And 25 and 80. I want 25 home runs. What do you have last year?

Like 17 or something like that? I want 25 home runs minimum from Bryce Harper. If he can give you that, I'd take him. Yeah. Because the Phillies are going to be out there anyway. They kept my man and he's got a few more homers than Bryce Harper. Twerber. Like double.

Yeah. Like triple. Swarber is the most interesting lead off hitter in baseball other than O'Connor. Why not play some fourth behind Harper? You know. And it may enhance Harper's contract. Although I guess Trey Turner hits lead off more than Schwabber now. No, that's a team.

But with Bryce Harper there and those guys, they go to the playoffs every year. You cannot find fault specifically with Bryce Harper. He has produced. By the way, 27 home runs, I undercut him a little bit. Only by 10. The mailbox is empty. Let's take one last break. Still to come, the Dolphins say see ya to Tyreek Hill.

And the harangue from Jerome Tang gets him gone from Kansas State. Did he hit him as my neighbor? How many did it have my former neighbor? He hit a lot. He hit a lot. Yeah. But I mean, when are you going to Grove already? I mean, you should be embarrassed.

He's waiting for you. Do I have to take like a gift now that he's won? No. I'll get you a gift. Happy time, people. Happy 24th birthday, Diego Pavia. The Vanderbilt quarterback led the Commodores to their first 10-win season ever at 10 and 3, and a top 10 ranking for the first time in 78 years.

Although Pavia was listed at six feet, he's just a shade of under 510, Bryce Young's size. After coming in second in the Heisman voting by a wide margin to Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, Pavia had a bad moment, specifically cursing the voters on social media for which he quickly apologized. Pavia started out at New Mexico Military Institute, leading them to the Juko National Championship. Then he went to New Mexico State and finally to Vanderbilt. Last season, Pavia had 29 touchdown passes and eight interceptions on his way to becoming SEC player of the year. He's wearing number two.

That doesn't mean Jita. It means somebody from Boston College, who was about that size, who had a long career, not that impactful. Do we think he can have a Doug Flutie-like existence? Wasn't he 22 in college? Two in the pros? He was two in the pros.

Okay, well, the kid's not in the pros. Happy anniversary, Nicola Yokic, around this day eight years ago, the Denver Big Man set the record for the fastest triple double in NBA history. needing only 14 minutes and 33 seconds of court time to get a triple double against Milwaukee, with 154 left in the second quarter.

Yolkich has 184 regular season triple doubles behind only Russell Westbrook's 207. In 70 games last year, Yokic had 34 triple doubles, and he's ahead of that pace this season with 20 and 39 games, despite a knee injury that kept him out of 16 games. Yolkich, who turns 31 this week,

is the first player in NBA history with more than 1,000 points, 475 rebounds, 250 made free throws, 75 three-pointers, and 30 blocks heading into the All-Star game. Now, you'd fallen in love with numbers too much. If you had to pick a player to go into the playoffs with, and you had a choice between Wembe and Joker this postseason, who would you take? Oh, I would take Yolkich. I know you would not. I'm not sure.

I would take Joker one more time. Because of the accomplishment of his career at this point. He knows how to do it. It may be the best player in the league. Happy Trails, Jerome Tang. Kansas State fired its head coach on Sunday. Just days after Tang torched his players, saying among other things, quote, these dudes did not deserve to wear this uniform.

There will be very few of them in it next year, unquote. Tang also said he'd wear a bag on his head if he were a fan. The Mercury reports that the school is trying to fire Tang with cause and not pay him his $18 million buyout. Tang took Kansas State to the elite aid in 2023. but it's just 1 and 11 in conference this season. I am surprised by this. I didn't think his offense was that terrible

now that players are basically pros. I told you that day, with cause, this would happen. I know. You can't, Tony, you can't talk about optics and how bad it looks for a university community and a smaller community at that. Can't have it.

Also, a melancholy trails to Robert Duval. The Academy Award-winning actor passed away yesterday at the age of 95. Wow. The natural was probably devolved. his biggest sports film credit, but he's best known for his roles in classic like To Kill a Mockingbird Network,

Apocalypse Now, and the TV adaptation of Lonesome Dove, and of course he was Tom Hagan and The Godfather. Kill A Mockingbird. Great. One of my top 10 movies of all time. Quick to the big finish. The Dolphins released Tyree Kill and Bradley Chub of My Mothers and a salary dump. Your thoughts. I'm just going to save

them like 30 mil. I'm not sure for the new regime. Not sure if you don't want to play anymore. Arizona lost to Texas Tech. hands is to Iowa State, bigger deal. Arizona at home. Yeah. Y.U. Laws scored Richie Saunders who are torn ACL. Big deal?

Yes, he was the second best player on a team of consequence to A.J. Devansa, and now what? Steve Cohen says there will never be a team captain as long as he owns the Mets. Does that matter? I don't know. I don't know if captains are important on all teams. I just don't know. Last one, former Philly Nick Castellanos joined the Padres. Is that a good fit? I think it's a great fit.

I'm jealous. You think he'll be able to bring beer into the dugout with the Padres? With that group of veteran guys who see their... Machado. Yeah. Tatis. Just bring me one. We're out of time.

We're trying to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornhizer. I'm Mike Lilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. And now you're a sports center, even on a holiday. You got sports center. Good show. We did a good show.

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