PTI - Paul George Receives 25-Game Suspension

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Australian Open, the NFL coaching carousel, and Paul George. 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 and look we return to the show after a week away.

I'm Tony Kornheiser. How could I pass up an opportunity to be on ESPN too? How could I do that? Is the sunshine and 45 degrees? It was cold. I mean, it was cold in Florida. You know, I'm used to saying sunshine in 85.

No. Not exactly. No. And in fact, on Sunday morning, I think it was below freezing all the way down the line. The LPGA gets frozen out in Florida? They were in Orlando.

I think they were in Orlando. Yeah. Welcome to PTO. boys and girls, I'm back, baby. Yeah. In today's episode, the Cardinals and Raiders hire new head coaches. The NBA suspends Paul George and a heavyweight boxer loses his tope. But we begin today with tennis.

Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in four sets in the Australian Open final, denying Djokovic his record 25th Grand Slam title once again. This was the first time Djokovic ever lost the Aussie final. He had been 10 for 10. Alcarus now has won all four majors at least once, making him the young. longest ever with all four, and he has seven Grand Slam titles at the age of 22. Wobon, where does this place both Jokovic and Al-Qaraz in history? I'll go on reverse order.

Al-Qaraz is the best player now, maybe narrowly over Center, who has been ranked one, and has his own little posse of slam trophies in his house. But Jokovic is the goat, Tony. I know that doesn't sit well with you. Not with me. Not with me. But look, he outduled Federer and Nadal in their own time. He joined the race a little bit late.

He did. Which gave him his years, three, four years. Yes, that matters. Yes, it does. It matters. But tone, to me, getting to this final and playing Al-Qaraz like he did, it's confirmation of the Joker's greatness. Because even at this stage, he can still get in there and go toe-to-to-to.

with Alcaraz and Sinner. I mean, this is amazing that he can do this. I know Federer and Adal have gone by-bye now. But that's where it leaves it to me. So we're going to look at the same thing through a different lens. Okay. Novak Djokovic is never going to win another major.

That's obvious. Now, the Australian is always his best chance. He's 38 years old. He'll be 39 during the French Open. Right? And I'm not saying he is a great, great player. He could win the French? I don't.

I think it's over. Because I don't think he can, as great as he is, I don't think in succession, he can meet Ciner and Alcras. That's what I'm saying. To me, he's at the stage of his career now that Jimmy Connors was at late, where he was good enough to make semis. It was entertaining. Maybe a final, very entertaining, but he couldn't actually win the tournament.

And Cinder and Alcras aren't going anywhere. Cinnor's 24. Alcaraz is 22. I believe I have this right. I asked for this this morning. Either one or the other has won the last nine majors. the last nine. This is not like women's tennis where there's a different winner all the time.

In women's tennis, the last five majors, different winners, six out of seven. That's not what's going on here. I appreciate, and I know that you think he's the goat. And you know that I never have. You know, for me it's always been Rod Laver. I would also say, despite the head-to-head. And I know what, because we've gone through this with Miami and Notre Dame, so I know where you are.

Despite the head-to-head, I would take Federer over Djokovic. I might also take Sampras over Djokovic. That's the way I feel. And Djokovic is a great player. Alcaraz. Alcaraz has seven. He's equal to John McEnroe.

He's one behind... He can't stay healthy. He is one behind Connors and Lendell and Agassie, and he's hello, 22 years old. My only problem here is this. I don't know that we know how good Sinner and Alcaraz are because for the fact, Djokovic is still the third best player out there. Nobody else is challenging. They may be Federer Nadal, who I think won 17 of 18.

That's why I want Blake to show up and get in there late, but he doesn't seem to be able to. Alcaraz, by the way, could he get bored? Like Bjorn Borg? Could he get bored? Alcaras seems like he wants to play golf more than he wants to play tennis. I don't know. Could he just go, you know, I've won 16 of these. I'm done.

I don't know. You're down the road now. You're down the road. But he looks like. Right now. The two of them look like Federer and Nadal. They do. Wow.

Let's move to NFL teams filling their head coaching vacancies. The Cardinals hired Rams' offensive coordinator, Mike LaFleur, for their opening, and the Raiders reportedly have decided to hire Seahawks' offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak for theirs, which should become official following the Super Bowl. Tony, which of these new head coaches will be entering the better situation? So let's put ownership to the side for a second. I think that Kubiak is entering the better situation because he has the number one overall draft pick.

So if there is a quarterback that he wants, if, for example, he wants Fernando Mendoza, he's going to be there at one. And he's got this. You know how he's working with the Raiders? Tom Brady. So Tom Brady can help tutor this particular quarterback. It looked pretty bad this year.

You know? They got the number one pick for a reason. Okay. But if the number one pick is that kid, who we both think is really good, he walks into the NFL with Tom Brady helping him, and a great tight end, Brock Bowers, great tight end. Arizona has a mess at quarterback right now.

You're close, you live there. I mean, do they want Kyla Murray? Does Kyla Murray want them? And as hard as the AFC West is with the Chargers and Kansas City and Denver, the NFC West is harder with Seattle and the Rams and the 49ers, and that's my thinking on this. I agree with you. And also, there's no magic, you know, there's no magic with the Arizona Cardinals.

There's no any more with the Reds. But for decades it was magic. For decades. But not anymore. Not even with Tom Brady. And is he there enough to help restore that? I don't know. I'm glad you covered that so thoroughly.

Because I find myself not giving a damn about these 10 openings. Because I sat there week after week or day after day. And I've come to the tally today that none of them are African-American coaches, that the league hasn't hired one. that there were 10 openings right now in this cycle. 10. 0 for 10. Zero. And I know not everybody was fired.

Mike Tomlin wasn't fired. He walked away. I get that. But Tony, it seems to me that the NFL, much like much of the culture, has gone to a place that used to be, that we thought was gone away. And Roger Goodell, I don't know that he's the guy that Paul Tagliabu was to get people on the phone and say, here's how we're going to do this. I don't know that Godell is that guy. He has done that in certain areas,

so let me not be completely dismissive. But the fact that it's 0 for 10. I appreciate what you're saying. I'm also going to say this, except for, and I don't know any of these people other than Mike McCarthy and John Harbaugh, who certainly Harbaugh is deserving. And McCarthy won a Super Bowl.

Absolutely deserving. They are, most of them, they're entering the league with terrible teams, with the dregs of the league. The only really bad team that didn't take a new coach this year, the Jets, took a new coach last year. Yeah. Okay. And he, by the way, I let me know it is African-American.

That's right. So when you look at, when the stated question is, who walked into the better situation, maybe neither walked into the better situation. But you know what you mentioned those guys that anybody would hire. A lot of these guys, like the new LaFloor. He may as well be Gie LaFleur to us. They have no resume. I don't know what their resume is. They all were for sure.

somebody. They all work for John in the day. We'll see. That's only, there's one great job. The Buffalo job was a great job. Baltimore might be a good job. Pittsburgh, I'm not sure. The others are awful. You knew the job I think might be a good job. You seem to be slow to climb on board. I thought Atlanta's a good job. I'm not certain.

And they, you know, they played pretty well at the end. He got rid of their coach. I'm not certain. Let's turn to the NBA, which has suspended Paul George's 25 games without pay for violating the NBA's anti-drug policy. George said he was taking, quote, improper medicine, unquote. related to his mental health.

George is scheduled to return on March 25th when the Sixers will have just 10 regular season games remaining. Wilbon, what does the suspension mean for George and this year's Sixers? So, this is real complicated for me. We both know, and you have noted, I love Paul George, as a person. Got to know him over the last years.

And he has talked about this openly in the past, so this is the issue itself is not new. And he and Kevin Love, as much as anybody out there in mainstream sports, have said, let's pay more attention to mental health while we have this platform, while we are active players, and I love both of them for that. And I know Paul has talked about this. We've talked about it privately some too.

And so, Tony, what it means for the Sixers is you're losing a guy who was just starting to look like Paul George again. He was starting to play. They think there was 16 and 11 with Paul George doing some of everything. 16 and 11 with 11 and 10 without. So marginal. Yeah, but it's who they beat and how they've beaten them and what they're doing as they come back. And you take less off maxi and edgecombe, the rookie, when Paul George can go out there and do things,

you don't want the youngsters doing yet. And maybe in Beat, who's not going to play back-to-backs. Paul George, he's been glue for years, and now he's doing that with the Sixers. By the way, the Sixers can maybe, I don't want to say benefit, because that's a tough word. But they can be under the tax, and it can sort of, in some convoluted way,

not hurt them as much if they try to make a move. But this is complex. In the same way that we looked at Jokovic and saw it through a different lens, we have always looked at Paul George through a different lens. It's hard for me to deal with this. And he's taken responsibility. He said he did it. I don't think there's an appeal or anything like that.

And that's fine. But you have always liked him far more as a player than I have. I have always looked at him and said, my God, he makes so much money for somebody who doesn't really have results. I hated, as you know, when he called himself playoff baseball. Well, that was not good. Because I didn't see any real, you know, real work to do this. that. So I think he's a good player and not a great

player. The Sixers are always juggling. Embed is out. George is out. The Sixers are one of those teams. There are two or three teams in a league where people say, well, they're all healthy. They're all healthy. They're never. They're never all healthy. This is a number, a mind-blowing number. Their best three

players are George Ambide and Tyrese Max. Right. They have been on the court together this season for 365 minutes. Out of a total of 2300 minutes, I think it's 17 games. 17 out of 48. If you had said to me, how many games without research, I would have said nine?

I didn't think it was 17. So if you ask me, what does it mean for the Sixers? When he comes back and he's very rested, he's going to have a huge spotlight on his back. I think he's okay with that. I don't, I would not bet on the Sixers. Even in the weak Eastern Conference, I would not. Okay. I would not.

Wait, our transition is perfect. The East is open. Yes, yes. The Pistons are the best team. But the rest of me, I know the Knicks of 1-7 straight, but you don't trust the Knicks yet. You are seduced by the possibility that they will play together and be healthy. I am. And how long has that happened?

Zero would be the correct answer. Not often. Zero. Let's take a break. When we come back, Darren Peterson in Kansas, got a big win over A.J. DeBonson, B.Y., but was it the weekend's biggest win? Man, what was the best highlight for the Lightning's Stadium Series win over the Bruins, last night. The pros from Dover are back.

I'm sitting here. Oh? I played a lot of golf. I'm golfed out. What are you doing in the cold? I'm an idiot. Yes. I'm going to let you say that.

What you're doing here? Yeah. We're dumb. Let's find out what's moving the masses in mail time. I'll put on my glasses and I'll get the first one here. Are you ready? All right. Who had the biggest win of the weekend in college basketball?

Illinois. I think by going to Nebraska when Nebraska, Nebraska when Nebraska had previously, the whole season, Nebraska at one loss. And it's the shocking. The game before. The game before. Shocking team of the season, I think you'll agree. Nebraska.

What? Absolutely. And Illinois, Tony. Illinois is my sleeper now. You may say, wait a minute, as you wear purple today, very nice. Yes. As you may say, wait a minute, what are you doing rooting for the Illini? Because I do, because I grew up aware of the Alignanai long before I was aware of Northwestern.

You grew up in Chicago. Illinois has. Yeah, you can root for them. You just can't root for them against. Against, never, never, never. Illinois has big people who can shoot it. Yeah. All right.

And they got a kid named Stoyakovic. You think he can shoot it? No. He can shoot it. I think that Illinois had like the best couple of wins of the week. I know that Arizona's undefeated and the Big 12 is said right now to be better than the Big Ten. But Illinois can change that. And I think they're a final 14.

I'm going to leave the Big Ten to you, but I'm sort of surprised you didn't mention Michigan as well. They won that Michigan State. That's a big win. All right. I could mention the Yukon women. They won their 39th game in a row. In the second half against the number of 15 team in the country, Tennessee, 54 to 24.

But if I'm honest with you here, if I'm honest, I haven't watched much. And I haven't watched much college basketball or the NBA. I haven't watched much because the NFL season has been the greatest season that I've, I remember, and the playoffs have been great. And when I wasn't watching that, I was watching the college football playoffs,

which were equally spectacular. So after the Super Bowl, I have a lot of catching up to do. You're running out. You're running out. You're out of football. I've got. What? I will watch the Winter Olympics.

I know you don't care as much as I do, and I will watch the winner Olympics. I won't because I'm not going to watch the figure skating. But the college basketball is shaping up. And you and I have both signed off on the men's college basketball a little bit the last few years. I'm not going to sign it. I think it's back.

I think it's good. I think it's going to be all right. Small amounts I've seen, but the NFL's been great. It's over. The NFL's done. Get them out of here. Great. They'll just be on a couple other shows in the morning every morning no matter what.

Outdoor game, what was the highlight of last night's stadium series game in Tampa? Yeah, so let's make it clear that people understand stadium series means the outdoor game, which of all places to have it, it was in Tampa, although Tampa was cold. What's the second outdoor game? The other was in Miami. So it was. So here. Did you see when the teams got off the buses? Okay.

Yes. When Tampa gets off the bus, they are wearing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, orange, crinical, jerseys, pads and helmets. And who leads them out? Baker Mayfield leads them out. When the Bruins arrive, they're in colonial attire. It's absolutely, it's fabulous. Then you have, if I'm correct on this, Tampa scores the first 11 seconds.

Boston scores the next five goals, doesn't hold the lead. You end up with a shootout, which is great. if you ask me the highlight, I'm going to go where you won't go. It's the goalie fight. I know you don't like goalie fights. I like goalie fights. I think, Mike, I think every year the NHL gets this right. I think it's one of the best things that they do.

Mark Messier was out there in the Tampa Bay Stadium with a pirate outfit on it. It's fabulous. Yeah, I personally, I'm not going back to the 1800s or the 1700s, because I guess I'd have to have a Frederick Douglas costume all, which would be fine. Frederick, one of my faves. But I'm not good. It was Poster Knock off the right post. Yeah. Okay.

That was it. That's game, right? But I will say the Creamsicle uniforms. Brilliant. The Creamsicle, they had to pay Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield a hockey guy? I think he is. You know what I think Baker Mayfield is?

I think he's a, I'm in this city and I'm going to make it work as much as I can guy. I do. That would be that kind of guy. That would be cool. I don't want to see the winner series. And there's the stadium series and there's the winner. I like the outdoor game. I don't want to see them in Florida.

Can we see them where they're supposed to be in Boston, in Detroit, in Pittsburgh? I'm trying to tell you. I was in Florida. It's much colder. Exactly. Much colder than you think. That's enough. Mail already.

Let's take one last break coming up. Louisa Rice, baseball's active career leader in batting average finds yet another new home. Nobody wants this guy? Baseball's disgusting. Heavyweight Jarrell Miller gets the hair, punched right off his head. Why do you think nobody wants him? Maybe he wants to move. He leads both leagues and batting.

Baseball doesn't value what we value. Getting on base? They don't. They don't care about RBI. They'll tell you RBI is a RBI guy. He's a run-square guy. I know, but batting average, they don't care about that. They don't.

Baseball. No, we're wrong. You're absolutely wrong. They don't care about. Happy time, people. Happy belated 28th birthday, Jazz Chisham Jr. This was yesterday. The Yankees second baseman hit 242 last season,

but had 31 home runs, 80 RBI, and 31 stolen bases, making him the third Yankee and franchise history to go 30-30. Bobby Bonds did it in 1975, his only season in New York. Alfonso Soriano did it twice in 2002 and 2003. Chisholm played four and a half seasons for the Miami Marlins before the Yankees traded for him at the deadline in 2024. Chisholm's Achilles heel so far in New York has been the postseason, a season generally unknown in Miami. Chisholm is bad at just 182 and 21 playoff games with the Yankees.

three home runs, three RBI. I was going to say he was not Mr. October. No. After really hoping that team rallied to get to that point. The Yankees had a Mr. October. They had. Yeah. He's not going to wind up knocking Reggie off his purpose.

He is not. Happy anniversary Pete Maravich. This is posthumous, but on this day, 56 years ago, Pistol Pete became the first player to score 3,000 points in college basketball. Maravich finished with what is still the all-time men's mark, 3,667 points in 83 games in LSU. Crazy. Bear in mind this was before the three-point shot and the shot clock and came in an era when freshmen were not allowed to play varsity.

Marevich averaged at least 43 points a game in his three seasons at LSU playing for his day at press Marevich. Marevich went over 60, four different times. Two years ago, Caitlin Clark set the all-time D-1 college mark with 3,951 points in 139 games at Iowa. I only remember Marevich kind of lightly. You must have lived in. Back when there was one game on Saturday, did you get Marevich every week? You did not.

You did not. I went to see him live once in a, I believe in the holiday festival. The greatest ball hand I've ever seen. The greatest ball hand are. An embarrassing happy anniversary for me. Around this day, five years ago, benching the man who won an album of the year

at the Grammys last night, and maybe the most popular musical artist in the world right now, Bad Bunny. This was in the All-Star Celebrity game. I was coaching All-Star Weekend. I wanted to win. I played Common and Horace Grant.

We beat Stephen A's team. I don't want to hear it. I thought it was Big Bunny. Bad Bunny. Happy trails to Jarrell Miller's hairpiece. The heavyweight boxer was mixing it up in the second round on Saturday night when his toupee got TKO. Come on.

Revealing a ball dome edged by a thin friar top. After the round, Miller ripped off the hairpiece threw it into the crowd. There's a souvenir and went on to win by split decision. Afterward, Miller explained that he had a full head of hair until just a couple of days ago. He said he was visiting his mom and used what he thought was her shampoo, but it turned out to be some sort of a household cleaner

that wiped away his hair. You buying that? No, that's a lie. But let me just say, as much as you and I want boxing to be what boxing always was, that does not help our cause. But we're saying this is a bald man ourselves. Yeah, no, but this, come on, this was embarrassing. Boxing, embarrassing moment.

Let's go to the big finish if we could. Let's go to the Reds. Let's go to us. a rise, headed to the Giants. What's the bigger deal? Going to Cincinnati in that ballpark, he could hit 65 home run. Really? Yes. The most home run friendly ballpark in baseball. He's going back where he started his career. I'm just saying Justin Rose won Torrey Pines in record fashion. I know you're impressed. I watched a lot of it. He was 17 under after Friday, Thursday and Friday. It was his tournament, and he kept playing

great. LeBron made his record 22nd. All-Star team, is that significant? There's real stuff to celebrate LeBron for. Every night, every night. The All-Star game, no, he's got other stuff. He's playing for something now that matters. The Niners hired Raheim Morris as their D.C. Does that make sense?

Yeah, to replace Sally. He's worked with Kyle Shanahan before. He's very good. That makes all the sense in the world to me. Last one. The Sabres have won 20 of 25. Face the Panthers tonight. Who you got?

The champs need to win. They've slipped eight points behind Buffalo. What? The Sabers terrible for a bunch of years? Yeah. 2025s? That's pretty good. Pretty good.

It is. By way, Suarez, mark it down. 65 home runs. I'll go 63 home runs. Just getting past, George. How about that? We're out of your mind. We're out of time.

We'll try to do better the next time. I got a shout out to Brady and Daniel and Lily and also the Air Force football for Daniel. I'm Mike Wilbon. I'm Mike Wilbon back on ESP in the moral knuckleheads.