PTI - Is the NBA All-Star Game on a Pro Bowl-Like Decline?

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the biggest storylines from the Olympics, the decline of the NBA All-Star game, and debrief Kansas State's head coach Jerome Tang's shocking presser. 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 Lilbon. It's International Charles Darwin Day. Tony, are you an example of survival of the fittest?

Tony Cornheiser, you betcha. You're looking at a specimen who curls between 8 and 10 pounds. Wow. Pretty good. I remember when you got to the point of bragging about the 5-pound weight, you've doubled up. I'm impressed. Yeah, and I'm getting older too. I'm pretty impressed.

I mean, maybe someday I'll get to like 15. I don't think so, but maybe. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, NBA All-Star weekend gets thinner. Kansas State's coach rips his team, and Joey Porter goes after Big Ben. But we begin with today's events at the Winter Olympics. Chloe Kim got silver in her attempt at a third straight gold in the half pipe. Men's hockey teams from the United States and Canada each took the ice for the first time.

Breezy Johnson crashed out of the Super G but got engaged at the base of the run. Jordan Stoltz got to enjoy the Goldie won yesterday in the thousand-meter speed skating and a Ukrainian skeleton racer was disqualified after refusing to remove a helmet that features the photos of fellow athletes and coaches who have died in the Russian invasion. Wilma, which of today's stories most intrigues you?

Chloe Kim. I mean, I can start there. We can make this. My whole comment can be Chloe Kim. And I certainly became a little bit fascinated by her and Miles Garrett when I think she went to a game in Cleveland. And I'm like, if she can go to a game in Cleveland, he can go to a competition in Italy. And it seems about even and fair to me. But, you know, Tony, that's sort of the People magazine version of what I'm most interested in.

In terms of actual sport, it's the hockey. And I was there in Nagano when the NHL players returned to competition. And I've been obsessed by it ever since this particular competition, the way it's played, the style of play. And, you know, it's Canada, U.S., Sweden, and Finland. Like in the Four Nations, it's that. But Finland already lost to Slovakia,

putting some intrigue in it. And while today is not the first day, it's like the breakout day. And you have reaction now. You have Austin Matthews, who along with Cichuk, probably the highest profile American player, saying, essentially agreeing

that it's gold medal or bust. And I'm like, whoa, wait a minute. The United States hasn't won since the miracle on ice. That's a lot of pressure to put on a team that's not the favorite. Canada is the favorite, right? We couldn't possibly be the favorite. So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm interested in the hockey and going to watch and consume as much of that as I can. You're lucky the quad guard wasn't on today because I'd be talking about that. I did watch a lot of that thing that they call the half pipe. And whoever does a commentary, I don't know, I can't tell the

difference. I can't tell the difference between what's good and what's not good. I really don't. I don't know the sport. But when somebody screams out, it's a double switchback 1080 or it's a triple cork. I don't know what that means. So if you don't fall down, and many of them fall down, I think it's great if you don't fall down. I want to go back to the Ukrainian situation because I am confused and conflicted by it. I have great sympathy for what he is trying to do, or the message that he is trying to put out there. But free speech, you know, I don't know if you want to open up that can. The NFL does not.

The NFL find a player last month for putting a political message on his eye black. And today the IOC president was moved to tears as she tried to reach a compromise with the Ukrainian athlete. Finally, you know, the offer was you can wear the helmet off the ice but not doing the competition. And he rejected that. And I understood, I'm going to talk for a while. I understood why he rejected that because these are his countrymen and they are fallen. You know, but I also understand when the IOC says not during the competition, because you can get 50 helmets for 50 different causes that might enrage 50 different people.

You have to decide, is this an athletic competition or is this a political convention? I think that's a hard one to maneuver. I did watch the women's cross-country skiing today, which is a grueling race. The American Jesse Diggins went out there with bruised ribs. She finished third. She got the bronze medal. She lay on the ground, writhing in pain, like almost screaming, rubbing at her wrist. It's just the effort that goes into this with these athletes is something that should be marvelled at.

All of them. Courage. One of the Austrian women crosses the line and immediately throws up. You go, well, anyway. Anyway, all right, let's move to the upcoming All-Star weekend. Cooper Flagg will miss the Rising Stars game. because of a foot injury. The Bucks officially ruled out Giannis from the All-Star game.

Luca Donchich will not play tonight because of a hamstring injury, hopes to be able to make an appearance in Sunday's contest. Steph Curry out with an injury. Kevin Durant questioned how hard the Europeans would play in the All-Star game after being questioned about how hard the older American players would play in the All-Star game. Wilbon, is this game taking on a Pro Bowl-like direction? Tony, maybe. But I think the one major difference, and it would take years before we've,

figure out whether this is true or not. Ultimately, in the Pro Bowl, the players didn't want to go anymore. It wasn't just the fear of injury and there was legitimately that. Players said, you know, I don't even want to go to Hawaii anymore. I don't want to go. Now, the NBA All-Star, they have not gotten to that point yet. Don't know if they will. But we've gotten to a point, Tony, where the weekend was used to be a joyous thing.

I mean, I used to get as much joy out of going to cover NBA All-Star weekend as anything on the sports calendar, Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, Final Four, included. And Tony, you know now I want to be as far away as I can. And my reaction is the reaction of a lot of players. I talked to two NBA personnel today. They're like, I'm not going anywhere near that. And Tony, you know what? The culture moves.

Things don't always trend in a certain direction. We've gotten to that point with the NBA All-Star game, which the commissioners had a bunch of chances to fix and make. a spectacular product, and for his own reasons, won't or hasn't, and so here we are. Yeah, so I agree with a lot of that. It used to be very celebratory, and now it feels like a burden. Players really don't want to play hard. They don't want to go through it.

And the other part of that is that all it leads to is a lot of questions for the league and for the commissioner. And I'm going to use one of your words. This is what happened with the NFL in the Pro Bowl, which was, in your words, hocus, pocus, junk. It was. It was nonsense. It was terrible. And so they dumped it. They dumped it. And I think they're better off for it. It may end up that the NBA has to do that as well. The NBA, the All-Star Game is, it's a bad product. It's a bad product in every sport but baseball. It's great in baseball. It doesn't work anywhere else. And I understand it. I understand

why they don't want to play. These are the greatest basketball players in the world. They have contracts. They don't want to get hurt. You can't just fix this by making it the United States against the world. Maybe not. Because there's no gold medal involved. It's an invented game. You know, I just think it's a difficult sell at this point to the players. And everybody knows it's a difficult sell to the players.

So it is to the public. I thought what Kevin Durant said was very interesting, you know, where he said, what are you asking me? Why don't you go ask about the Europeans and how they do it? And he specified Donchich and Yokic. And he said they just lay on the ground and take shots. They don't care at all. The video was amazing.

The subtext of that. The subtext of that was clear to me. The subtext was about race. And I think everybody understands it when they watch it. Last night in the NBA, to piggyback on what we said yesterday, last night in the NBA, Utah won a game. Jaron Jackson, Jr., I believe, had 23 points in 22 minutes, and you wake up this morning to find out he's out for the rest of the year.

How about that? He has a knee operation. I was stunned to hear that. So what does that tell you? It says Utah, Utah, we don't want to win. We don't want to win. That's on next year. Maybe next year. Maybe.

You know what? We're going to revisit this again because you raised something with Kevin Durant I hadn't thought of, except I would say to Kevin Durant, let me pile on your doorstep all of the video of the old heads, as he calls them,

all the American old heads, not playing worth of damn either. And I got video it at. I got video of all of them not playing. Equal opportunity, but you... Nobody wants to play in it. Raise a fascinating point to play. They don't.

And now to the harangue from Jerome Tang. The Kansas State coach let his team have it after losing by 29 at home to Cincinnati last night. Tony, this is... This was embarrassing. These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year. It means something to wear a K-State uniform

means something to put on this purple, man. Like everything this university is about and all that it's been about, why I love this place, man. And like, they don't love this place, so they don't deserve to be here. What did you make out of the stupid section of paper bags of the head? Yeah, I'd wear a paper bag, too, if I was them. Thanks a lot, fellas. God bless.

Whoa, Tony, isn't this too tough on a college team? Well, let's review for a second. Let's go to the bomber quotes. These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of the minute next year. They don't love this place, so they don't deserve to be. be here. Can I ask the relevant question? Who recruited these people? Didn't Tang recruit these people? He's not his first year. Because he's been there. He's in his fourth season. So he didn't inherit any of

these people. So if mistakes are made errors of judgment, they are his errors of judgment. I'm not saying he's a bad coach. I was told he won 26 games in his first year and made the elite eight. He may have inherited some players on that team. But the team he's got now, he clearly hates. Look, this is college basketball right now with, you know, NIL and with the transfer for it. And straight up salaries. And coaches make a lot of money. Players make a lot of money.

Everybody's a pro. Nobody's sweating out a chem final anymore. Move on. Nobody's caring about that. So if you want to get rid of this guy, Tang, you've got to pay him an $18.5 million buyout. It's probably cheaper to get rid of the players. Probably cheap.

Tony, here's the deal. And look, you understand the frustration of any coach at any level. And the tough thing now, Tone, is coaches rationally can go back into their meeting, slam the door with their staff and say, these kids are getting paid. Maybe not as much as James Hardin and Luca, but they're getting paid. And so there's going to be a certain resentment, if you will. But, Tony, you can't go that far. And if I was the athletic director, no, if I was the president of Kansas State University,

and I do like when people with the purple and call themselves Wildcats. But if I was the president of the university, I would call Coach Tang and I'd say, So you've got until the TV trucks get here at 5 o'clock for local news to get down in something purple in a logo and walk this back. That's how long you got. Because I will also terminate you for cause. And there may not be a buyout of $16 to $18 million. And I think he's probably a really good coach, too. but you can't go this far.

These are, and now it's sounding like John Thompson, I'm stealing a phrase from the coach I probably admired most in my life, from coach the dear late great John Thompson, who would often say to me, when I got ready to criticize somebody in the Washington Post, hey, these are somebody's children. They still are, whether they get a paycheck or not. So Tang has to remember that or he might have to go.

This is his last quote, which I thought was, the bomber quote, I have no answers and no words. Well, that's not true. You had words. You had words. You had very harsh words. And your job is to have answers. That's your job. You're the coach. We're paying you. Let's take a break. Coming up, Joey Porter goes after Ben Rathesberger as a teammate. What's the word for that? And how best to describe James Hardin's contention that loyalty is overrated. I love the way you described the language in the Olympics when they talk about, It gets so technical. It's like this guy was the Dan Orlovsky of the Olympics.

The 900 so-and-so is like the too deep zone. Yeah. Do you know what a double cork 1080 is? Time for little wordplay with Wilbon. What's first? The criticisms that Joey Porter has of Ben Rothlisberger are blank. My word is seismic. You do not hear this from teammate to teammate.

I mean, you know, Porter is a guy who was the captain of the team. team, right? He was the captain of the team at one point, and he was a pro bowl player at one point. He's a worthy guy. He actually said of Rathesberger, quote, he's not a good teammate. Is he a good person? No. He said this on a podcast, probably answering what Rathusberger said on his own podcast months before about their coach, Mike Tomlin, who Porter is still very close with. Rathusberger was the first one, I think, to come out and say, maybe it's time for a change of scene. So he's obviously he's still angry. He said, Porter said he respected and

rooted for Rothesberger when he was the quarterback, but about his captain skills, he said he had no captain quality. One other quote stands out, Mike. The blank that he did is foul of all foul. This is a teammate. How do you think the plans for that reunion are going in Pittsburgh?

Yeah, I won't mention any other championship teams to have those similar things going on. I'll just say my word is intramural. And Tony, it is that because you're dealing with, like, half the modern history of the Steelers here. I mean, you're not going back to Lynn Swan and Franco Harris, but you're dealing with Cower and Tomlin

and James Harrison and Cam Hayward and everybody, of course, Porter and Rothersberger, and everybody's got a podcast, and everybody seems to just sort of rip somebody or defend somebody on their podcast. You are the podcast ringmaster in my life, so I defer to you on this. I know how to do it.

in a mural because it's like, I don't know the outside there has any resonance. You know what I mean? Outside Steeler Nation, I don't know that it matters. I just thought it was a bomber quote. Maybe not in the tang quality, but close.

What's next? James Hardin is blank when he says loyalty is overrated. Self-serving. Of course he says this, because he has no loyalty to anyone or anything but himself, absolutely none.

Didn't he force Houston to trade him to the Nets? And didn't he force the 76ers to trade him to the Clippers? And then last week he woke up one morning and said, I'm sick of the Clippers and forced them to trade him to Cleveland. He will tell you that players can be cut, you know, and that players

don't have any guarantees except the ones that have guarantees, but he has guarantees because he's a great player. And he makes $40 million a year. And he will tell you, you know, that the NBA is a business. It is a business. And he uses his clout as a great

player to destroy the business whenever he wants to. I'm sure he's very, very happy in Cleveland right now. What is it? 545. Let's see how he is at 8 o'clock. And that's why, Tony, my word is justifying. That's all he's doing is justifying all the moves he

is forced. And I, like you, wrote down, Houston, Brooklyn, Philly, Los Angeles. I'm not counting Oklahoma Oklahoma City because he didn't force that. That was early in his career when he wasn't as great yet, and he had no clout. But every stop since, then he hasn't. And if you ask James about these things, and he's very approachable and very affable

to talk about a lot of things, he would just sort of look at you, like, what do you, are you sure you know what you're talking about? And it's like, I'm sorry, these places actually exist. And by the way, by the way, I'm not even saying I blame him, but it is justified. I think he's a great player, but it's obvious what he does. That's the final word. Let's take one last break still to come. The latest sign that Serena Williams could return to competition.

Uh-oh. And North Carolina gets some bad news about a big star. I mean, he uses his clout. It's Kevin Durant does the same thing. This is the way it works. LeBron James does the same thing. Yes, they do. They get used it.

Happy time. People happy 63rd birthday, Brent Jones. Jones was the 49ers' tight end during their glory years of Joe Montana and Steve Young. He went to four Pro Bowls, won three Super Bowls. While he was not as accomplished as Jerry Rice, when Jones retired in 2000, he had caught more passes for more yards and more touchdowns than any other 49ers' tight end ever. Jones played all of his football in the Bay Area, having gone to Santa Clara, which no longer has a football team, and playing 11 seasons with the 49ers.

Jones played in 143 games of the 49ers. He won 110. Jones's two daughters with D1 soccer players and Courtney was on two NCAA champions at North Carolina. If you would up and down the rosters, Tony, of those great Niners teams, the great Patriots teams, great Patriots teams, great Patriots teams, great Cowboys teams, I would say that the Niners had more individually great players. We don't even talk about Brent Jones. It was great like you just outlined. I think the Niners, apologies to the others, but that's the way I'd be going. I might go Steelers.

I might. Happy anniversary, Jordan, Spieth. On this day, nine years ago, Spieth won the Pebble Beach Pro Am. With this win, Spith became just the second man, along with Tiger Woods, to win nine times on the PGA tour before the age of 24 since World War II. Later in 2017, Spieth won the British Open for his third major, and at that point, comparisons to Tiger Woods seem to. reasonable. But since that British Open, Speeth has only won twice. The Valero, Texas Open in his home state in 2021 and the RBC Heritage in 2022. Now, Spieth had a T3 and a T4 at the Masters and a runner-up at the British, but he was number one in the world for 26 weeks at his

apex, and now he's 89th. Tony, his greatest speech was during that run. It was always too soon to invoke the name Tiger Woods. And you know, I go crazy about this even with you with Scottie Sheffler. Sheffler's been better longer, but it's still too soon to start mentioning Tiger Woods. It makes me crazy, and yet, you know, people will do it anyway.

Well, way to lay ask you about Chris Godder up in Tiger Woods next week? Happy Trails. Nick Castellanos. The Phillies are releasing the outfielder with one year left on his deal after failing to find a trade partner. Philly hadn't even bothered

to invite Castianos to spring training after his production fell last season. At one point, he got benched from making an inappropriate remark toward manager Rob Thompson. It came after Castellanos had been pulled from the game for defensive purposes, and while he was holding a beer in the dugout

during play, the Phillies signed Adolos Garcia in the offseason to replace the 33-year-old in Wright. Wilvon, something tells me who can suggest a landing spot for Castellanos. He's got some popping that bat still, and he knows his way around right field in the Ivy and Wrigley,

because he's been there before, Tony. So I'm just saying, as the unofficial sort of analyst of the Cubs roster. We need a little bite. We need some dog in that roster on nominee Castellanos. Let's go to the big finish. Jeremy Sochin joined the Knicks after being released by the Spurs. Is that a big ad?

It could be. He asked for his release. They gave it to him. The Spurs will load it. This is, I'm very curious. North Carolina says Caleb Wilson, not Williams. Caleb Wilson is out indefinitely with a friday. fractured hand. Is that a big deal? It is. He's nearly 20 and 10 in college. Yeah, that is a big deal.

It is a big deal. Orioles second baseman Jackson Holiday will have hamlet bone surgery and miss the season opener. What do you make of this? Every single person has this injury now. This is insane. I hope that's not what Caleb Wilson has. Serena Williams has been clear to return to play by a tennis anti-doping agency. You think she will? I do. I think she'll play occasionally like her sister Venus does. Maybe they'll even play doubles together. I think it's possible. Last one. Suns forward Dylan Brooks got an automatic one game suspension after earning his 16th deck last night. Your thoughts? There'll be more suspensions coming. He can't help yourself. But he's had one hell of a season for the surprising sons. Don't you find him annoying, though? Yeah. Don't you find him annoying? We're out of time. Try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Cornynheiser. And I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow.

Buckleheads.