PTI - Nico Harrison Fired from the Mavericks!

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Eagles/Packers, Nico Harrison/Mavs, and Brian Kelly/LSU. 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. I'm Mike Wilbon. Tony, the Wall Street Journal reports that executives are getting frustrated with workers who checked their phones during meetings. Hey!

I'm sorry. Did you say something? Pay attention. Have you ever seen the cats? The cats videos? They're very funny. Have you ever seen those? I'm not. Very fun. I don't want to see a video. I just would fire everybody under 50 because all they do, they got to walk across the street checking their phones. You You know what I want to do? You know what I want to do? No, but tell the world what you want to do. Want to run them over as they cross the street?

Is that what you're going to say? Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. I'm with a maniac. In today's episode, The Mavericks fire Nico. LSU contends it has not fired Brian Kelly. Oh, please. And Jeff Saturday joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with last night's Monday night game, which was a snoozer.

There was no score at all in the first half. ultimately Philadelphia beat Green Bay 10 to 7 in what would charitably be called the defensive struggle the Packers had now lost two straight games in Lambo. The Eagles have won three in a row. Wilbon, what does this result say to you about each team? It says it about not just the teams, but the whole league.

We can start with the teams. They're no great teams. The Eagles may become great again and this sort of validate by repeating his champions of the league, but there's no great team in the league. You know, people wanted to tell us that Buffalo was great, No, Buffalo's not great.

Detroit looks good again. But what if they run the table? Run the table, then we'll get to that point where they run the table. Thank you for introducing that today. But the Packers are weird. Yeah. You know, and we can stop with the love is MVP nonsense. We can stop with that.

And so the Packers, they have a pretty good damn defense, though. Yes, they can stop you, but they can't score, which is weird for Green Bay team. Now, I know they've lost their time. who was the second most important player offensively craft on that squad. But Tony, you look at these two and they look like the rest of the league, which is some

Sundays or Mondays, they're capable some, they're not. I'm going to go from the macro to the micro here, and I'm going to start with Green Bay. Green Bay has scored in the last two games a total of 20 points. They have just two touchdowns produced in their last

17 possessions, right? These These games were both in Lambo, which is one of the great advantages in the entire league. Maybe the best home field. So I think, thank you for mentioning Jordan Love, I think we need to look at Jordan Love. Because Jordan Love in those two games has no touchdown passes and one interception. And he seems to be, this is his third year of starting every game, and he seems to be just sort of spinning in place. They traded up to draft him, and they thought that he would be in the company of Brett Favre and Aaron Rogers.

And so far, he is not. He's one and two in the playoffs, including a three-pick, no-touchdown game against these same Eagles last year. You mentioned their defense, and their defense has allowed in their three losses. Just 39 points. Yeah.

Just 39. 13 to Cleveland, 17 to Carolina, and 10. They should have won all three of those games. And they, you know, like when Jordan Love looks pretty good, he looks like an above-average quarterback, but he doesn't look special. It's hard to be a special quarterback. Well, even if 5-1-1, you're looking at it thinking, okay, this is where the Packers are supposed to be.

But now, how about this? This makes me, you know what maybe so happy about last night's loss? Well, you're happy when the Packers lose. You know where the Packers are in the NFC Central standings? Behind that, they behind Chicago at this point? Yeah. And 5-3-1. Give me 20 seconds on Philadelphia.

Because Philadelphia is fine. Philadelphia is a dependable team. They're not a flashy team. They are a pretty much... Not great yet. No, I'm not saying they're great. Okay. I'm not saying they're great.

I'm saying they are dependable, and they don't turn the ball over. Only four turnovers all year. That's the best in the league. And so down the road, that has to help you. Has to help you. You can go through the season like this if nobody else is great. Can you just tell me one thing? What's that?

What was Siriani doing going fourth and six? And not putting the ball, not giving you a small lead. Seconds and yards. But he'll double down. Doesn't it seem to say they double down. They were right. Absolutely. Even saying to me.

The Dallas Mavericks. Here we go. Today, they finally made the move that Tony's been predicting, obsessing over since February, firing general manager Nico Harrison. Fan chance of fire Nico, you can hear him.

They rained down last night in a loss to Milwaukee in which the Mavericks blew a 13-point lead to fall to 3 and 8. Their worst start in seven years. Tone, you said Harrison's trade of Luca should lead To his firing.

It has now. Is it justified? I'm sure you'll say it is. But how do you feel about the timing? Well, let me get to the justification. Is it justified? It should have happened a long time ago. It's late.

Okay? That's the worst trade I have ever seen in my life. There are many who would concur. Just a terrible, terrible trade. And by the way, where have you ever seen a hometown crowd chant for the firing of a GM? Like, they don't even know the names of GMs most of the time. That is amazing. That's an amazing thing.

The home games are depressing. If you talk to people who were there in Dallas, they come away thinking, oh, my God, this was unpleasant. That's how bad it is going. So let me go to the trade again. So he trades Luca Donchich for Anthony Davis. Luca Donchich, a great player and a fan favorite, right? Anthony Davis gets hurt all the time,

and his derisive nickname is street clothes. Okay? And so now, Lucas' team, without LeBron playing a minute, is eight and three, and that's pretty much all Luca. And Dallas's team is three and eight. They're three and eight at the moment. And the worst part for Dallas, for ownership,

is that people have stopped going. They're being heard in the pocketbook. So they had to do this, and they should have done this before. I feel bad because the trade is not a trade that any of us, it seems, or have made. I don't get to know Nico a little bit. Nico Harrison didn't do this by himself.

And I'm not going to sit here and act like he did it by himself. The owner has to agree. Because I know better. The owner has to agree. The owner didn't just agree. The owner was involved. Okay? That's what I'm told and I know, and I'll bet on that every day. But he's not going to fire himself.

No, he's not going to fire himself. No. So Nico has to take accountability. I'm not saying you shouldn't. That's right. And the home games, I've started to watch Dallas because I thought if Anthony Davis was out there, God help me. If Cooper Flagg was great away as the number one choice, and he isn't. Not yet. And this notion of him playing point guard, Jason Kiddott, a great coach.

I don't know what the hell that's about because he ain't a point guard. And he ain't going to never be a point guard ever. And Kyrie Irving. Okay, Kyrie's hurt and not there. And all those players on that team, PJ Washington, Derek lively, they're all dependent on a playmaking guard, and that ain't Cooper flag. They had one.

So it was doomed. They had two. They had two. Now they have one. Now they have none. Now they have none. And that trade, that trade hangs over that team

and that building like a curtain. It does. It's terrible. It does. I just don't want to hear Nico being in here. Where's the owner? Where's he? Take some account of Billy.

You're the billionaire. I'll tell you where the owner is. I'll tell you where the owner is. A billionaire bully. Take some blame. The owner is the guy who just fired. And he's hiding behind Nico. Let's stick with the topic of

famous guy firings, we all thought LSU fired Brian Kelly two weeks ago and had to pay him the entire compensation package, which was a low $54 million. Now LSU has taken the position that Kelly wasn't actually formally terminated. In illegal filing, Kelly's attorney say that LSU is seeking now to fire Kelly with cause to avoid that huge payout. Wilbon, what do you make of LSU's position in the Brian Kelly settlement? It's laughable. It's either somewhat between disingenuous, and a flat-out lie. They got rid of him because he wasn't winning enough.

Anything else by letter or not is a lie. That's why they fired him. Now, if I'm Brian Kelly's agent, I am sticking to this, and I say, until you get to $54 million with a comma, don't even call us, don't give us the rest of this garbage about cause.

All right, so other things may later come out in this. I don't know. But from what I know now, from what I know now, I'm looking to see what the cause could possibly be because they fired him because, yes, he didn't win enough games. So are they going to turn around and they gave him this contract? He didn't demand it. They gave him the contract.

Are they going to turn around now and say he tanked the games and that's cause? He tried to win. He tried to fit in. He even came up with that dopey southern accent as he tried to be good there. So you have to tell me what the cause is. In the contract, moral turpitude. They're going to find that that's in the contract.

NCAA violations. They're going to find that that's in the contract. But it's going to be just wins and losses. And by the way, he was 34 and 14 while it was there in 3 and 0 in bowl games. And if colleges could fire coaches for cause at any time they wanted, there'd be 100 guys out on the street tonight. 100 guys, they just fire everybody. That's right.

But now with record, and that's the reason why they all want to be able to do it now, by all, I mean the 10 or 12 who are so damn arrogant, they think it's their birthright to win a national championship and be in the CF, because there is not. The cause is, cause he didn't win enough. That's the cause. Lies, stop it. I think the governor may have something to do with it.

I'm not certain. Let's take a break. Coming off is Mike Kappka. That's how it's pronounced. It's not Kofka. Kaffirking. Getting a fair test. Purple.

To get the Giants full-time job, we're going to ask Jeff Saturday. We're also going to ask you. choose between the more impressive blocks Darnell Wright through. Mike, who's going to take the LSU job now? Somebody, anybody, they're going to pay a lot. Well, they're not paying anything.

They don't want to pay anything. Everybody, you know how college football works. It's all sick of fans. On both sides of the equation. That's all it is. Let's dig into the NFL trenches with our great friend ESPN NFL analyst, Jeff Saturday. Here's the first question. I was watching this.

Eagles right tackle, Lane Johnson, got carded off in the second quarter last night, But then he returned in the fourth quarter. As a lineman, how do you know when to risk it by returning or to save yourself for another day? Oh, listen. First of all, I thought he was done for the year. When he got rolled up, I was like, we just lost one of the best in the business. And again, gets carted off.

You're thinking terrible things. And then this animal comes back, you know, with what six minutes or whatever it is left. Here's the thing about offensive line that people don't realize. We play for each other. So he knows what Landon Dickerson has faced already. He knows Juergens has been out, Tooth's been having to play. We all got problems, man. We all got pain.

If we can get out there and be affected for our team, we're playing through pain. That's what Lane Johnson showed us. Total respect, man, for getting back out there. And again, we don't talk about, you know, should we? We do until we can't at the O-Line position. And that's exactly what he showed last night. Not just hockey players are tough. That's right.

That's right. Guys in the trenches are tough. Speaking of, Jeff, darnel Wright, who was working his way into my heart, had two great blocks the last two weeks. Against the Bengals, he took somebody, like, all the way to the sideline. And then he Michael sphinxed Brian Burns of the Giants. Which one of those blocks impressed you more and why? All right, so I did the first block, the run block on pancakes.

So he got, he got some pan. He got three pancakes for that block. where he washed the whole side down and just takes him and drives him from hash, basically the hash. So good. And then this morning, I had him on there with the Brian Burns, and it was a crepe, right? So it's like a light, you know, it's like a little app for breakfast, right? We're not, that ain't the real thing.

He caught Burns on a spin, dumped him down. I loved it, but we can't go all the way. And I will say this, because Dominique made sure I, Dominique Foxworth, who's my cohort there on Get Up, made sure I said, Burns got the better of him a few times. So there was a little pissed off in the action for when he caught him in the spin and made him pay. The only thing I would have liked more is for darned him. Jump on him. As soon as he hits his back, get on top, make sure he knows that you're there.

But he's had a heck of a little run these last couple weeks. Wright's becoming a big-time player now finally, isn't he? Absolutely. He's getting there. And listen, it takes time. He's still got some issues on the outside edge, but he'll be the real deal in time. I want to ask you about a guy that I know a little bit. Mike Kafka, who is now taken over from Brian Dayball,

and the Giants are reportedly looking at this as a seven-game test, like an audition of his sort of head coaching abilities. You've been into him. You know how difficult this is. Is it fair? Can you do anything in that short period of time in an audition? Well, I think for Kafka, the good thing for him is he's been in the building for a time, right? He's already worked with Jackson Dart, who you hope comes back from concussion protocol.

You've already seen the way he's developed, scatibu before the injury, neighbors, right? So there's some water under the bridge for him. He's also been a finalist for a couple of jobs already. And so he's kind of built his credibility in this building. And I think with Shane and the relationship he's seen from the development of Jackson Dart, I think that's where the true audition comes in, right? is already knowing the guys in the building, building from the relationship, you've already started with these guys,

and then showing them kind of, hey, this is what it looks like. Now, wins and losses, it's hard to attribute that to coaching right now, especially coming in. Let's be honest. Like, they had four leads in the fourth quarter and somehow couldn't hold on to him. That's probably the greatest indictment on him. But Kafka can show not only the Giants, but other jobs that are to come up, hey, this is kind of what you're going to get.

QB development, you know, here's what I did for the receivers, here's what I did for the running backs, and then kind of, you know, that's kind of your, the information that gets put out on you, not only for the Giants, but for the other guys in the league. We will get you out of here on this. Speaking of the Giants vacancy, Bill Belichick's name, is being floated out there as a possible candidate for the Giants job. Thank you.

He's won his last two at North Carolina. You know North Carolina pretty well. Have you seen changes in how he's coaching that team lately? I had, listen, you watch a lot of self-inflicted wounds early in the season. And a couple games before the two that we've won, we really should have won them in the fourth quarter, had some fumbles going in. And I think it's just, you're watching that defense really developed.

They've gotten really sticky over the last couple weeks. And I think you're seeing the progression. I think everybody understood this is going to take time. He'll continue to add talent to the roster and we'll get. the most of these guys. It takes time for a guy who's coming from the league to college, the whole recruiting thing. So I think Bill

is finally getting some traction on this thing. Guys are starting to develop and buy in and the results have shown that on the field. Thank you so much, Jeff. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate you. Let me just say this. We do until we can't. That's Jeff's phrase

about offensive linemen. We do until we can't. Let's take one last break. Still to come, did Kate Cunningham or Victor Wenbanyam? He'll host the more impressive performance last night. Limpan Yama performance angered me greatly. Nathan McKinnon has nine points in his last two games. Is he going to keep the binge going tonight? You know, Kafka's a Northwestern guy.

Did you know that? I know. I was told that. I was told that you would have interest in that because he was from Northwest. Happy time, people. Happy 24th birthday, Ladd-McConkie. The Chargers wide out was drafted in the second round in 2024 out of Georgia, where he played on two national championship teams.

McConkey went to the Chargers, where in his rookie season, he had 82 catches for 1149 yards and seven touchdowns, which is what can happen when you have Justin Herbert throwing to you. McConkey entered the NFL the same year as his Georgia teammate Brock Bowers, who caught 112 passes last year. This season, McConkey already has 51 catches for 631 yards and four touchdowns, including a 15-yarder against the Steelers on Sunday night. In that game, McCongy had four catches for 107 and that touchdown.

Until a half an hour ago, I was convinced that Ladd McConkey, Laddie, was related to Phil McConkey. How can he not be except he's not apparent? I had the same assumption you did, and people talk to the office. They said they're not related to them. Happy anniversary, Derek Thomas. This is posthumous. But on this day, 35 years ago, the Chief's past rushing great,

set the still current record for NFL sacks in one game with seven against Dave Craig and the Seahawks. Thomas almost had an eighth sack, but on the last play of the game, Craig slipped out of Thomas' grasp and threw a game-winning touchdown pass for Seattle. Thomas had been the fourth overall pick in the 1989 draft out of Alabama.

He made the Pro Bowl seven times in his 11-year career with Kansas City, where he is still the franchise record holder with 126 and one-half sacks. In 2009, Thomas was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I'm going to say something serious for a second. I never wore a seatbelt until Derek Thomas lost his life.

Car accident. The car accident that he did. I started wearing a seatbelt the next day and have worn one ever since. Not before that. Well, you should, and everyone should. Everyone should. That's why they happen. You should.

A melancholy trails to Michael Ray Richardson. The four-time All-Star Guard passed away today at the age of 70. The Knicks drafted Richardson fourth overall out of the University of Montana in 1978. He was a very likable and productive player and with the team tumbling out of contention in the 1981-82 season, he uttered the most famous quote ever by a New York Nick, quote,

The ship be sinking, unquote. After the season, the Knicks dealt him to the Warriors for Bernard King. Richardson eventually ended up on the nets where he had a strong run before being banned from the league for drugs. He later played in Italy and France and coached in the CBA and his son Amir

currently plays soccer for the Syriott team, Fiore and Tina. Now, people have no idea how talented Michael Ray Richardson was. And he was up there, Tony, and without the cocaine use, which got him banned from the league, he's up there with Magic and Bird in that group. He was. He led the League in assists in his second season.

He led the League in Steels three times and was runner-up a bunch. He was a great mega talent, and it just betrayed him. You can't put him with Magic and Bird. I watched him, you did. You loved him then. I did. but magic and bird are Celestial. Let's go to the big finish of the can.

Cade Cunningham. He had 46 in a Pistons win, and Victor Wembeyanama had 38 as the Spurs beat your bulls. Which was more impressive? Cate took 46 shots. Wimbabon Yama just punked the Bulls. He probably gangstered him. I'm embarrassed by the way that went down last night

at the end of the game. Step back threes all over the place. Travis Hunter had knee surgery today, and is out for the season. Your thoughts? Feel bad. We hadn't had a chance to see what he could really do. Maybe it's too hard to play both ways in the NFL down now.

Bill's head coach, Sean McDermis said the team is sticking with offensive coordinator Joe Brady, not considering Brian Dayball. Your thoughts? I'm tired of the ifs and buts with the Buffalo Bills. Are they good enough? It doesn't look like it again. Baseball's rookies of the year are Nick Kurtz and for the A's and Drake Baldwin of the Braves. Does that make sense?

Nick Kurtz had like 36 home runs. He played great. He's unanimous. Last one, six and five warriors at 10 and one Thunder tonight. Do you got? Can't go work as a Thunder at home. Sorry, can't do it. Uh-uh.

We are out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. Happy anniversary to Elizabeth and Ron. Happy anniversary. I'm Mike Wolbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. And now...