PTI - Rookie Rainmaker, Report‑Card Reckoning, and a Crimson Curveball

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser break down Kon Knueppel’s rookie three‑point milestone, the latest NFLPA team report cards, and Alabama potentially dropping Ohio State from next year’s schedule. 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. The interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon on his national polar bear day, Tony. You have a favorite bear? I'm Tony Kornheiser.

Cody Parky? Okay, you got to do. I know he just played golf with him. I play golf with him. I forgive him for double doink. I do. You do all about it? Really?

I let it go. Do you get the pictures that I sent to you with William Hitch? Yes. Yeah. But you got to be better than that. No, he's a nice kid. You got... Well, I don't know.

Ditka. You play golf with Bill Sayers once. I learned one of the greatest of all time. All time. You know that. Welcome PTI boys and girls. In today's episode, NFL players rate their teams. Ohio State dares Alabama to drop it from the schedule.

And Charles Barkley joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with Conkinip. The Charlotte Hornets rookie wing who last night made eight three-pointers, giving him 209 threes made this season. Best in the NBA and a record ever for rookies. The old rookie record was 206 by Kagan Murray. of Sacramento four years ago, who took 80 games to get there. Kinnipel has played 59.

Wobon Khan Kinnipples milestone. Big deal, little deal, no deal. The milestone itself is a deal, mid-deal. But what Knapples do in this season as a rookie is a big deal. And it's such a big deal to me, one, like a lot of people, I've started paying attention, and then even watching the Charlotte Hornets play. Because of the way they play, yes, the Halemillo ball, who's exciting. but he was exciting and just to empty calories way before.

Now, Tony, with C C Cinepple out there, I'm going to tell you this, you know, I vote for postseason award, regular season awards. Right now, he would be my rookie of the year, ahead of his Duke teammate, who I know is a bigger deal, has numbers in lots of categories, and has not been a disappointment on any level. He's an all-star. But Cinepple does not have the ball in his hands

because ball has it in his hands. And yet, when he touches it, he is fire. He's shooting 44% from three. That team is viable, and he's the difference, Tom. Yes. He appears to be the difference. Last year, Charlotte was 19 and 63. They already have 29 wins, and they have 22 games left to go.

He is a bigger. You cannot make a judgment as to how big a deal is his right now. You have to wait for a few years. For example, the guy who held the record, Kigin Murray, right now he averages 14 points a game for Sacramento. That's fine. But it's not all-star level. No. Right? And he has not made 200 threes in any season since

the first. And he doesn't really have an impact on the game. This kid does. Like you, I was fixated last year on Cooper Flagg. On Duke, on Cooper Flagg. And look, when Knappel went fourth overall on the draft, I was surprised and I thought that was maybe too high. But look

as we're saying, what he has done. Look at the wins and the losses. I'm going to say something. I don't mean it to be religious. I don't. Because Cooper Flag is going to be a great, great player. What if this kid ends up being Jerry West? What if he ends up being Mr. Clutch? What if he shoots that well? He is leading the NBA in made threes right now. He's ahead of Steph Curry. It's the only name I want to mention, and I want to mention it for a reason. And by the way, at 44.2% he can shoot all night. Nobody's going to tell him not to him. That's right. He's the next generation.

Steph Curry, he's a child of Steph Curry. The game has changed. I said last to Steph Curry Chasing. By the way, more than anybody. This kid reminds me of a young Chris Mullen. Okay. And it ranges deeper for everybody now. I saw him play like AAU or something. It was an AU.

And I just remember thinking, when you can shoot like this, don't tell me that everybody's as good as you are better than you. What? Hardly anybody's better than him. Not this year. Let's move to this year as NFLPA team report cards. An arbitrator rule, the union couldn't publish them, but the arbitrator couldn't stop ESPN from getting our hands on them. More than 1,700 players rated teams in various categories, including ownership, facilities, and coaches.

Miami rated first. That must surprise you. Surprise me. Does. Pittsburgh ranked last. That surprised me too, yeah. The NFL claims the survey isn't scientifically valid. Of course it's not.

What? With that said tone, what result in? intrigued you more. I know you've surveyed those. This is the thing that the court said could not be public. Please. But here's what happens. Here's what happens. They send this to every single player. And you know who wants it public? The NFLPA

wants it public because they want to shame the teams at the bottom. That's what they want. So Miami is first. Minnesota is second. Washington is third. And you know what they have in common besides good snacks and family-friendly activities? They have this in common. They didn't make the playoffs.

The guy who was the general manager at Miami got an A. General manager of Minnesota got an A. You know what they have in common? They got fired. First place, you're fired. Now, Pittsburgh is last. They say that Pittsburgh has an F-minus on the locker room. Locker room and the field.

Facility mean the field. That field behind the field. Yes, they made the playoffs. That's why you can't pay us any attention. Well, let me- Every coach got an A- or A-plus. Except like two of them. Harbaugh.

Alan Glenn got an A. The Jets have no wins. The guy in Washington, Dan Quinn, got A plus. Because he wears his hat backwards. They were five and 12. It's nonsense. The whole thing is nonsense. The union wants it out there.

Now, his was not nonsense. The part about how they treat the families, because when you look at free agency, right, that's important. That becomes important. It is. How about the fact that Kansas City was rated 27th Then they got an F on locker room.

Kansas City in the last seven years. Five times to the Super Bowl, three wins. You think the locker room's killing them? Because I don't. I bet you this, though. I bet you the Chiefs as a club, you'd let the locker room go to hell, so it helps you get the new stadium you've demanded across state lines.

But it's not, you know. New England was rated 26th. New England, like, the plane wasn't so comfy. D in food. D in food. F on T. travel. How is it to get great chowder? Where did they go? This year. They went to the Super Bowl this year. So again, fun. Dismissible. But for us. Good to talk about. Good television.

Let's move to college football in the story about two of the great powers, Alabama and Ohio State. They are scheduled to meet in 2007 and 2008. But Alabama has also recently scheduled Georgia State in 2008, a fourth non-conference opponent. And the SEC only allows three. This has led to speculation that Alabama could drop Ohio State. Ohio State's athletic director told the Columbus Dispatch, quote, we expect the two games series to be played. We should never be afraid to play anybody. We're Ohio State. Boom, unquote.

Rubon, if you were Alabama, would you keep Ohio State on your schedule? Hell no. No. No, now that the SEC teams are playing nine SEC games, no, you just added a schedule. a team on your schedule, that is probably like 50% chance of being the top 10 or 12 team. Maybe 12. You could get, maybe you get one of the bottom ones.

It's a conference schedule. So it could be top five. So you don't need another one of those. People go crazy. They overreact to every loss you have. No, no. It doesn't mean you get to play Wofford four or five times like every SEC seem to do at one point. But you don't have to add Ohio State.

You don't. Sorry. So look, I'm not going to put myself in Alabama's shoes because obviously we both agree that playing Georgia State is very, very, very, very easy compared to Ohio State. Of course it is. Right? But I also think that if Alabama opened against Ohio State and won that game, they'd be almost assured of getting into playoffs. Because if you lose it and you wind up being a three-dance team. Because you got that tough conference. I don't know. I'm not sure about that. And I mean, from a fan standpoint, I want to see Alabama in Ohio State. And I'll start to Tusks. Nobody really wants to see Georgia State and Alabama, right? Here's my sense, because here are the notes that I took. If Alabama ducks this game, they're going to look like cowards. That statement by the Ohio State Athletic Director is flowing. We are unafraid, and it looks like Alabama is afraid at that point. I am hoping, they went into this with their eyes open. I am hoping both schools.

No, but those schedules were years in advance. I guarantee that schedule was made before. before the SEC mandated. Okay. But Alabama and Ohio State know who the other one is. And they wanted that game.

They wanted that game. You know what? This one school, I'm a big 10 guy. Well, I got Big Ten news for you. I'm inclined, as you know, to favor my conference. There's one school that often, too often,

there's a word I want to use, three letters, but I won't do it. Rhymes with Donkey. There's one school that acts above all the others all the time. And it's the Ohio State University. And by the way, they've earned a lot of that, particularly on the football side, not everything else.

But not in this case. Let me give you another Big Ten school. Indiana, National Champions. You know who they played out of conference this year? Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, and Indiana State. Indiana State without Larry Bird. It needs to beef up. You know who they got next year?

North Texas, Howard, and Western Kentucky. Now they are... The Howard game. Is the Howard game here in Washington? I doubt that. They earned it on the field. They beat Oregon. They beat Ohio State.

I'm not going to say, Ohio State doesn't earn it on the field, because they always do. But they know what the situation is in the SEC. They know. That guy, the AD there, he can stand behind that statement forever. Let's take a break. Coming up, I think tanking is a bigger issue. The load management and Wilbon disagrees. We're going to ask Charles Barkley to decide.

We'll also ask him whether he thinks Victor Wimbine. He needs to go through playoff heartbreak or whether he can go straight through OKC in Denver. What a title? What word rhymes with Dunkie? That's three letters. You want to tell me off the air? Monkey? Oh, that's more than three letters.

That's six letters. Okay. All right. Dunkin, you said. Yeah. Donkey. Yeah. They get it.

Dunkey. Inside the NBA has moved to ESPN, which means Charles Barkley is now our colleague. Yeah. Our first ever guest. We're thrilled to have them back in the show. And before we went on the air, we were talking about golf course. of course and the fact that Chuck is wearing his 76ers, the team that drafted them. Everything is good. Let's start with this. I think tanking is the bigger issue for the NBA.

Wilbon thinks it's load management. Who is right? I'm got to go with my brother Wilbon. Tony, there's always been tanking in the NBA. There's always been tanking. I think we have to address it. I don't think we should reward losing, honestly. Everybody in the lottery should get one ball and whatever happens happen. But when you start saying you're going to get extra ping pong balls for losing, I think that's what the problem is. I think every team in the lottery should get one ping pong ball and take their chances.

But as you said, load management, I know load management has to just annoy the hell out of you, Chuck. Well, what bothers me is from the fans, Mike, because obviously I don't hate on these young guys. They're making $50, $60 million. and with this new TV deal, they're going to be making $70, $80, $90 million. I think it's unfair to the game and to the fans for you to make $80, $90 million and say, I can't play basketball two days in a row. That's a, that's a travesty. You said the other day you'd prevent tanking teams from raising ticket prices.

What kind of reaction did you get to that? Mike, I've been saying this for years. I don't think not just basketball. don't think any sports team, if your record is below 500, you should not be able to raise your ticket prices. I'm not saying you got to win the championship. I'm not even saying you've got to go deep in the playoffs. But when your team is 500 or less, you should not be able to raise ticket prices.

I've been saying that for many years, and I would love for all sports to adopt that. Tell us what else. We love these sessions where we get to pick your brain about the league and what's going on. You and I do this more frequently, now we're going to let Tony in on it. What else would you do? What other stuff that you see about the game and you say, if I was commissioner today, I do this? Well, I think we've got to find a way to make sure of fans. Mike, you've been beating this drum for a long time.

It is so difficult for fans to find the games now. I think we've done a disservice to the fans and to the game. We've got to find a way to let the fans know because the fans are, the backbone and we want to support these networks. I'm so honored to be on ESPN now because it's a greatest sports network ever, but people don't even know when NBC games are on NBC when they on peacock. They don't know when the games on Amazon. And we got to be very careful because, you know, we got an 11-year deal and it's a team deal. The players are going to be successful, but we want the networks to be successful also. I think the number one thing we got to do is make

sure we let the fans know exactly when the games are on here here said you want to said you're done with questions can i ask an off book question let you in what do you weigh now you look great what do you weigh now i weigh 270 uh i started doing uh with road dot code doing zep bound at i started at 355 i'm at 270 and i want to get to 265 so i'm right where i want to be but what's going to happen tony and Mike, when I get to 265, I'm going to get off the drug because I don't think anybody want to be on drugs their entire life. I'm going to take a month off and see what happens with my body because even though I'm taking a shot, I've changed my eating habits and I'm working out. To me, that's the biggest misconception. The notion that you can just take a shot and lose weight, I have to change my eating habits and I have to start working out.

But I'm very excited where my body is now. 265 shouldn't be that hard. You only have five to go. You could do that by next Thursday if you wanted to. You could do that. Well, I'm going to try, but you know, that's the thing. You know, because I tell people, you got to eat. Because, hey, you don't, I didn't get fat, not eat.

Do I like to eat? All right, let me go back to basketball. Apparently, our inside people say that you have switched from the Knicks to the cabs in the Eastern Conference. Why not the Pistons? Well, I watched the Pistons play the Spurs the other night. And my criticism of the Pistons has been, Kay Cunningham and Duren have to play great. And one of them didn't play great and they lost.

The reason I like the Cavs, there's really nobody on the calves who have to play great. James can have a bad game, Donald Mitchell can make up for it. Mobley can have a bad game, Allen can make up for it. So I think they got more room for error. My personal pick right now is the calves in the east because of the margin of error.

Because you're great players, they're going to have a bad game here or there. But the Pistons, as great a season they have, Cade Cunningham and Duren have to play great if they're going to be, go deep in the playoffs. I'm glad you mentioned San Antonio because you know from personal experience that teams historically have to experience heartbreak in the playoffs before they're able to win. Do you think that Victor Wimbaniama and the Spurs are the exception? Can they go that far in the playoff, Charles, without having had that personal playoff heartbreak? I love Victor Wemba Jama. I think what they're doing in San Antonio.

Hey, listen, the most underrated player in the league now is probably Stefan Castle. That kid is a flat out beast. But I still like OKC and Denver. I do. I like those two teams in the West, but hey, listen, Wimbi Yama, what that young man is doing, it's great for the league, it's great for San Antonio, but I still like O KC in Denver in the West. It's great for us that you're on ESPN. Thank you, Chuck. I appreciate it. See you soon. Thank you, brothers. You can catch Charles and Ernie and Kenny and Shaq on NBA tip off immediately following this

high-quality program. Let's take one last break. Still to come, they're at least three big men's college hoops game this weekend, which is the biggest. And Shea Gilgis Alexander makes his return from injury tonight against the Nuggets. Two teams Charles mentioned. Big deal? How does Charles look? It looks good. It looks great.

It looks great. Yeah, it looks great. Happy time, people. Happy 30th birthday, Chris Godwin. Godwin is one of two premier wide receivers in Tampa Bay along with Mike Evans. But as a free agent, Evans could be leaving. Godwin has two years left on a second. contract with the Bucks. Both were injured and missed a lot of games last season. Godwin played in

nine games had just 33 catches for 360 yards and two touchdowns. He has gone over a thousand yards receiving four different times and has 41 career receiving touchdowns. Godwin was a third round pick by the Bucks in 2017 out of Penn State and was a pro bowler in 2019 when he had 86 catches, 1333 yards and nine touchdowns. While in Tampa, Godwin has caught passes from Heisman winners James Winston and Baker Mayfield, but he won a Super Bowl with Tom Brady. Quite a tandem. You would think a team would really try to figure out a way to keep those two together on their own roster. Evans is only going to something called the Hall of Bain. Yeah. And yet it's like they're both just going to be vaporous.

Sort of like Cincinnati, where you're trying to keep them both if you like your quarterback. Happy anniversary, Mike Conley Sr. On this day, 39 years ago, the great long jumper and triple jumper set the world indoor record in the triple jump going forward. 58 feet, 3 and a quarter inches in a meet at Madison Square Garden. Connolly said he knew he nailed it because, quote, my toes were almost coming out of the pit, unquote. Conley won the gold medal in the triple jump in Barcelona in 1992, the silver medal in Los Angeles in 1984. Conley's son Mike Jr., while not an Olympian, has been a steady, valued NBA point guard for the past 19 seasons. After being traded twice and waived this season, Conley recently resigned with Minnesota.

originally drafted by Memphis and remains that franchise's leading score. Mike Conley is a Chicago kid. Went to Luther South High School. I have one of my best games pitching against Luther South. I wonder if Mike Conley, who was probably... You know what? I don't know he played baseball, but he's such a great athlete at a time where people played everything.

Mike Conley, senior... Do you think great athlete? You struck him out. Do you think he struck him out? I'd like to think I had some success. Happy trails to the final minute of last night's game to Philip Gustafson. Minnesota's goaltender stopped 44 shots as the Wild beat the NHL leading Colorado Avalanche 5 to 2 in Denver. Gustafson left it all on the ice, including whatever was in his belly.

Illness led him to vomit in the face with about a minute remaining and he was replaced for the finish. Wild coach John Hines called the quote, a real gutty performance, unquote. You get that? The moment that happens, the referee should have the power to come in, point to both benches and say, he's gone. Well, they took him. If you can do it. No, no, no, you're forced out like concussion protocol. Was it vomit protocol? That would be

great. Big finish quickly. Shea Gilgis Alexander. Clear to return from his abstrain tonight against the Nuggets. Is that a big deal? Yes, the thunder was just five and four without him. He didn't even back in the lineup. He wants to be MVP maybe again. Time to get back. Yukon women beat Georgetown by 32.

To move to 30 and 0 undefeated still on the season is that significant. The best team in the country right now, and it's without page beckers and they were a championship team last year the spurs your spurs 11 and o in february your bulls oh and 11 bigger headline in the robin world the bulls are wizard level irrelevant so that's the spurs college hoops this weekend michigan illinois virginia duke kansas at arizona what's the biggest game i'm gonna say kansas at arizona but all three are really big games last one calves at this is tonight are you intrigued i am but if donovan mitchell is

out and he apparently is, the pistons at home, ought to witness convincing me. The Pistons should have been over the home of city by 30 points. Don't you think? We're out of time. Try to do better than next time. I'm Tony Corner. I'm Mike Wilbon. Have a great weekend, knuckleheads, and now here's NBA tip off.