PTI - Jayson Tatum is Back!

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Jayson Tatum coming back from injury, Ohtani grand slam, USA makes WBC debut, NFL moves + more! 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 Ray Wilbon. It's Middle Name Pride Day, so we're going by our middle names today. I'm Erwin Kornheiser.

I put the win in Irwin. Very impressive. Do you know, there's a million people named Ray. Sure. Some of them are the same characters. Sure. But Irwin. How many Irwin's did you know?

I only know one. Irwin Stewart, who was the basketball coach at Plainview Kennedy on Long Island that one of the people he coached was Seth Greenberg. Get out. It's true. Unless I have that wrong. I think I have that right. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls.

In today's episode, Shohei, hits a grand slam. More big names than the NFL are set to be released. And Jay Billis joins us as North Carolina and Duke gets set to play again. But we begin today with Jason Tatum's return to the Celtics tonight at home against Dallas. Tatum tore his Achilles less than 10 months ago. He will be coming back far earlier than most expected. Wilbon, what are your experience? in the short and longer term?

I have none in the short term. I just wanted to all be sensible. I don't want to see Jason Tatum laying in a heap on the floor because he came back too soon. And I would think that there's enough counsel, there's certainly enough medical experts, and the Boston Celtics are not some fly-by-night outfit. You know, they're going to have gone back and forth over this

a trillion times with Jason and his representatives and people who are interested. And the short term is, okay, like tonight, I don't expect him to play more than 13 to 15 minutes. Do you? No, of course not. Okay. So as we get to April and we get to the first round of the playoffs, maybe he's back in there and he's looking like Jason Tatum. I don't expect it, Tony.

I think I'm just hoping it. My notes are going to reflect exactly what you just said. I tend to be more pessimistic about this. I love Jason Tatum as a player. I admire his courage, I admire his ability, I admire his resolve to get back into this. And in a perfect world, by the time the playoff start, he has seamlessly reput himself on that team. And now he's surrounded by better players than when he got hurt, because those better players have kept the Celtics buoyant and right near the top, led by Jalen Brown. So I would say in a perfect world, the Celtics roll to a championship.

But, and there's always a butt. I'm a little nervous about this. There's two words that keep flashing in front of my eyes. What? Lindsay Vaughn. Okay. I'm glad you got there because I was going. I thought it was tremendously courageous what she did.

It was. She had a torn ACL and she skied anyway, and we were told that it wouldn't get more hurt. And then in the first time on the downhill, she hits a pole, and she crashes, and she breaks her leg in three different parts. places. So I understand it's a different sport. I understand it's a different circumstance, but that didn't work out. That was not a storybook ending. No, it wasn't a storybook anything.

And so with Tatum, you know, first of all, you have to wonder, there are parts to this. Like, oh my God, how is he back in whatever this is, 10 months? And this thing used to be a career ending, then a career derailing, then people came back in like 15 months. It really is. science is better. But this, this, this is amazing, isn't it? Here, here's what I would say. This is not baseball. You don't get to sit in the dugout for half the game. When you're on a basketball court, if you're not at 100, get off the court. Jumping and cutting and getting here and moving in a way that's going to test that immediately, even in those 13 to 15 minutes tonight if that's what he's limited to. Team, the world baseball classic is often running, and

Shohay Atani's bat is already hot and humming. Showing how you did that. I like that. That was good. First inning double. Then Tony, excuse me, Irwin. A grand slam and an RBI single in the second this morning as Japan mercy ruled Chinese Taipei 13-0. The United States with its best ever WBC roster starts pool play tonight against Brazil. All right, Irwin, what's the bigger headline? Shoah's granny or Team USA's opener? Let's stop with Irwin.

Okay, let's stop with that. This is a very easy question-answer. It's Shohei Atani. I agree. We need to look at him. We need to look at how he rises to the moment. The first time he was in this thing, he was on the championship team,

and he won the championship by striking out Mike Trout. He goes to the Dodgers for two years. He has two World Series rings. I believe he started Game 7 against Toronto. I believe on short rest. Now he's back in this thing, and the first time out, he gets three hits, including a Grand Slam. Mike, I'm going to use big names here.

Use any names you want. Let's start. Let's go, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Derek Jir. Shohan Tani is with them. And he pitches. And he pitches. Yeah. Yeah.

I want to see some more pitching. I want to see some more pitching because he can. You will. You will. And I guess not in this. I want to see health. But in the regular season. And I just want to see health.

Good health for me. I don't want to see him falling out with tears and stuff busted up either. But it's Shohei. It's not team you. And we'll get to that. Listen, I was just thinking this morning about how baseball, soccer, and basketball, for sure. People don't belong to a smaller place anymore, even if it's a big place. They belong to the world.

They do. You see them. You know who they are. You buy their jerseys. You drink whatever they're endorsing. Shoah's in that with LeBron and whoever else we want to go to over the years, messy. So Shoah's there. Yes.

So I don't, I thank you, Japan, for sharing Shoah with us. We're going to make you share them anyway. But the U.S. will get to that, but it's Shoah. We are not real danger of losing to Brazil. Brazil has no major league players on their roster at all. But you know who they got? They got the youngest guy in the field. They have 17-year-old Joseph.

Contreras, son of Jose Contreras, who pitched 11 years in the Biggs. 17, he's going to Vanderbilt and bring in a 98-mile-an-hour fastball with him. That's a name to him. With some confrontation homes. To pay attention to them. Let's move to the NFL and a bunch of news we can comment on. Here we go. The Saints' all-time sack leader, Cam Jordan, is set to become a free agent.

He had 10 and a half sacks last season on a bad team. Gino Smith will be released by the Raiders and will hit the free agent market. The Houston Texans gave pass-rusher, Daniel Hunter, $40 million for one season. He had 15 sacks last season and SNY is reporting that New Jets Offensive Coordinator, your boy. Frank Reich, his preferred option

to quarterback next season is Carson Wentz whom he has coached in Philadelphia and in Indianapolis Wilbon have at it. You know it's not the Jets and it's not Carson Wentz. It's just not. Gino, I think if he goes into this where he looks at a situation where he's needed, all right?

Right? Because he's gotten paid. He's needed. Whether that's as a spot starter, a bridge starter, and there's several of those available, or backup. Because even if he's backing up in September, he may be starting by November. So there are places that could use him that he can't even necessarily foresee. So I think that's big. Cam Jordan, 15 set, that 10 and a half sacks is a lot at that stage of your career, 36 years old. That's huge.

And by the way, there's some other guys off book. Max Crosby, his name is. out there every hour. If you're one of the teams and you hope your guys get into it, Cowboys, Bears and others, Max Crosby's out there, Tray Hendrickson's out there, so there's more to come. Let me just say of Gino Smith, he was a reclamation project before Sam Darnold. And by the way, in the same place, in Seattle, in the same place. I will start by saying, if somebody offered me a one-year contract for $40 million, I would take that contract. You know, it's a little odd that if you're going to give a guy $40 million for one year,

that you wouldn't try and get him on a multi-year deal. But this happened last year. They got him for $35 million. And he had a great season. He bet on himself and he won and he's going to try and do that again. And by the way, he's on a, that's a great defense. Houston defense. Yes, it is.

You didn't want to mention Carson Wentz, so I will. Carson Wentz, when he started at Philadelphia, he was really, really good. Mike, in his second year, as a starter. 11 and 2, passed for almost 3,300 yards, 33 touchdown passes only seven interceptions, and then he tore his ACL. And he's never been the same. And Philadelphia won the Super Bowl with Nick Falls, and Carson Wentz was forgotten. He's a gamer.

He'll go out there and play hurt for you. I find myself rooting for him, but not the Jets. The Jets kill quarterbacks. They just destroy them. You can't root for him to actually be on the Jets or for anybody to think that he is the answer to quarterback for. For the Jets. What Reich was his quarterbacks

I know. And Frank knows his head coach. He's been the hell of the job for a long time, Frank Reich. So? I covered Frank Wright 50 years ago. Yes, in Maryland.

How many years ago? Well, 40? At least. Let's take a break. Coming up, why is Duke suddenly so good? We're going to ask Jay Billis, whose middle name is Scott.

Do I hear 45? Yeah. We'll also ask him whether the selection committee should take into account Miami of Ohio's efforts to schedule tougher teams.

You covered boomer, and then Reich. And Gelball? Yeah. Right. And they all went to the pros. And O'Donnell? Neil O'Donnell.

He all went to the pros. Four in a row. At Maryland. But only one of them had the greatest comeback of all time in college football. Frank Reich? Frank Wright. Was it 35 points or something?

31-0. Is that what it was? 31-0. Yeah. Little history, kids. North Carolina and Duke meet again tomorrow at Cameron. Ray Wilbon will be there. So will today's guest, the dashing ESPN College

Basketball analyst, Mr. J. Scott with one team? One T. Let's start with this. North Carolina was without freshman star Caleb Wilson with a broken left hand. Now he has broken his right thumb. He is out for the season. What does that mean for the Tar Heels? What does that mean for him? Well, first, it's heartbreaking for Caleb Wilson because he's one of the best players in the country. He's going to be a top five draft pick if he decides to come out into the NBA draft. And he was just getting back to where he was going to play again. Carolina is five and one without him in the lineup. Without him for the remainder of the season, it just makes their ceiling lower.

They had final four capability with Caleb Wilson in the lineup. Without him, it's going to be a lot more difficult. I still think that with the way they can play without him, you could see them in the second weekend, but I think it certainly dims their hope for getting beyond the Sweet 16. Is it possible? Of course it is. But one thing they've done really well is some players need to be needed. And guys have stepped forward and done more.

Just because they had a certain role with Caleb Wilson in the lineup, doesn't mean that's who they are. And they've shown that they're more than just Caleb Wilson. Well, they can sure use them tomorrow, Jay, because since Duke lost to Carolina a month ago, the Blue Devils are 7 and 0, as you know. And they have just been crushing teams. Where do we start with what's working?

so well for Duke in that stretch? You know, Michael, I think what's working so well for them is this heightened role acceptance that they have. You know, players oftentimes come in to a team setting and they have a view of themselves. And it's not a negative thing, but sometimes it's based on scoring. And Damesar, the freshman from Italy,

is in the starting lineup now, and he's basically taking the opponent's point guard. and guarding at the point of attack. He's 6-8, he's got really long arms, and he's an excellent defender. That's kind of his superpower. And he has bought in, if you will, to that's where he can have the greatest impact on the game.

And he's been a star in that role. And I think that's gone throughout the team. You know, Cameron Boozer is the best player. He's going to get all the headlines. He's going to score the most points. But other players are doing things that are impacting the game almost as much. in their area of expertise, if you will.

And I think Duke has done an amazing job of embracing roles and everybody doing their job, and then they're taking their cues from their teammates know what they do is valuable, and they keep doing it at a high level. Their defense is as good as anybody's in the country. It may be the best in the country. All right, we'll transition from the Blue Bloods

and talking about them to a hopeful. Miami of Ohio, which tells Yahoo, that it was turned down by 75 or more schools when it came to attempting to schedule them this season and that if necessary, it hopes the committee, the selection committee, would take that into consideration. Jay, how you feel about that? Well, first, they're going to get in, no matter what.

The easiest thing for Miami of Ohio to do is to win their conference tournament, get the automatic bid, and this is all put to bed and nobody has to worry about it. For one, they're really good. They're a very good basketball team that has a chance to win a game or two in the NCAA tournament. But when you get down to the resume part of it, they've only played one team, that being Akron, and they beat them that's ranked in the top 50. Everybody else they've played is outside the top 150.

They've only played one quad two game on the season, that being Akron. They haven't played in no quad one games. And they've played three non-division one games in their 30 wins. I don't buy the fact that they couldn't have played a tougher sketch. Could they get exactly the schedule they wanted? No. But the major conference teams can't service everybody in Division I. But they could have played a tougher schedule.

But they're going to get in and any talk that they won't. But if they had lost one game, we wouldn't be talking about this because their resume wouldn't match up with the teams that have played tougher schedules and also lost games. But that being said, they're a really good basketball team. And they're going to be in the tournament whether they win their conference championship or not. conference championship or not. They're going to be in, they should be in, and people want to see them. They will be a draw for however long they're in there, even if it's only one game. We'll get you out

here on this. AJ DeBanza told the Desiree news that he might stay because his mom wants him to graduate. Do you, Jay, think that's possible, and what does his NBA future look like? Well, it's certainly possible. AJ DeBanza is so good that he can do whatever he wants. And, you know, you look back, and I know it's a long time ago and it's ancient history. to players today. But, you know, Tim Duncan stayed four years in college, and it didn't cost him too much. When you're the real deal, you get to do whatever you want,

and AJ DeVantz is the real deal. Just from a financial standpoint, I don't think many people would counsel going back to school, given the amount of money that he's going to make in his lifetime playing basketball. And just because he's not going to graduate, if he goes into the NBA after this year, he won't graduate on the timetable that we grew up with. you graduate in four years and you matriculate on at age 22,

that doesn't mean he can't pursue education while he's in the MBA and get his degree. It just won't be on the timeline that traditionally it's been on back in the old days. But, you know, I think it's great that he loves the experience and would like to continue. I'm not sure that the business reality of the MBA is going to allow him to do that. Thank you for being with us. Thank you, Jay. You're going to be stuck with Wilbon at the game. Yes, sir.

We'll be stuck with Wilbur. We'll see you tomorrow. Thank you. You can catch more of Scott. That's his name, Scott, his middle name, on college game day tomorrow, morning at 10 Eastern. Let's take one last break, but still have to come. Heartbreak for Holy Cross, which goes down at the buzzer. And Irwin here breaks down the biggest moves at the NHL trade deadline.

When you're a rookie, you're going to make $13 million. A lot of money. You can't. How do you... Well, because you can delay it for one year. If you want to delay it for one year. But that's not going to accomplish the goal. Happy time, people.

Happy 31st birthday, Josh Hart. He's a local for us, Wilburne. Joshy. He went to Sidwell Friends School and then went to Villanova, where he was on Jay Wright's first championship team in 2016. Two of his Villanova Wildcat teammates are now Hart's teammates on the Knicks,

Jalen Brunson and Mikhail Bridges. Hart is sort of the forgotten Nick. Brunson and Bridges and Carl Anthony Towns and OG Ananoby get most. to the attention, but Hart is quietly averaging 12 points, 7 and a half rebounds and five assists per game, and he's shooting 48.7% from the field. Hard was once Big East player of the year in college, and Villanova retired his number three jersey. The Knicks better not forget him. He's the guy who's got to do a lot of everything, including D-Up, people who are particularly

hard to guard. Josh Hart, I don't know that when he left Villanova, that we thought he was going to have this kind of career. It's an impressive career. You say he's a golf friend? three too, right? It plays all the time. Teeing it up. Might be teeing it up today. The Knicks playing tonight. Happy anniversary, Ray Bork.

On this day, 26 years ago. The Bruins traded their 21-year veteran and 12-time captain to the avalanche after Bork had asked for a trade to a Stanley Cup contender. The great defenseman reached his goal by winning the cup one season later in Colorado. During the post-game presentation that followed the avalanche's game seven victory, Colorado captain Joe Sackett, broke with tradition and gave the cup. to Bork to skate with it first. Bork had waited longer to win a cup for the first time

than any other player in the 108 year history of the Stanley Cup, 1,612 regular season and 214 playoff games. Bork remained so popular in Boston that 20,000 fans cheered him when he brought the cup to City Hall. Our dear producer, Boston's own Matt Kellyanher, was filling me in on how beloved Ray Bork is,

and I tried to come up with a quick Mount Rushmore in Boston. And I got Brady, Brady, Bird, Russell, and Orr. And then I have Poppy. Ted Williams? But he got booed all the time. Did they ever love Ted? Did they ever love him?

Ted Williams is not on the list? Not on the list. Bill Russell, yeah, Bill Russell. I got Russell. Happy Trails to Holy Cross. The Crusaders are out of the Patriot League tournament after squandering a six-point lead with under three to go to Lehigh.

Lehigh's Nazir Whitlock was the difference late. He tied the game at 66 with 11 seconds to go, forced the Holy Cross turnover with two seconds left, and took the half-court shot at the buzzer that won the game. Widlock said he fought a shot was off when it left his hands, quote, but then I was like, wait, and then it went in, adding, this is March. Lehigh now faces Colgate and Sunday semis, but wait, that wasn't the only buzzer beater yesterday. My girl, Bella Pucci from Binghamton, also hit a game winner, pushing my three-seat Bearcats,

Pissed 6-C Bryant in the America East tournament. Wow. Eat it, Bulldogs. This is when it starts. This is the fun of it. It's the early weekends before you even get to the 64 or 68 or whatever it is. I also think that the first weekend is the best. It is better than the more excitement.

I totally agree with you. All right. Let's go to the big finish. Let's do it. Victor Wembeenjama. Yeah, 38 and 16. As the Spurs took care of the Pistons, is that a big deal? And five blocks shots and they keep beating the best teams in the last.

league. It is a big deal. They're the favorites to win now. You don't want to hear it. They're the favorites to win. So young. God, they're great to watch. The NHL trade deadline passed a couple hours ago. Biggest deal, Tom. The caps traded John Carlson to Anaheim. He'd been with the capitals for 17 years. Got him and over. Yeah. The Chargers and Free Agent Center, Taylor Biedish.

Tyler, I'm sorry, agreed to terms on a three-year $30 million deal. Is that significant? Yeah, Joe Walter, Roshan Slater, injuries. They had they got to get better right now on the offensive line. Joel and Beach, your boy is out at least another week with an oblique. You're so surprised. No one in the world is surprised.

Nobody in the world is surprised. He misses so many games. Last one, Tyler Reddick, your boy. He could win his fourth straight NASCAR race on Sunday. Do you like his chances? Yes. This is like this go back 35 years. How many times once Jordan started winning, and he's, oh, to Carl,

do we not like his chances? I like Tyler's chance. We're out of time. In Arizona, the next time. I'm Tony Cornhunt. Thank you. He's Irwin. I'm Ray Wilbon.

Have a great weekend. Uncle Hans.