PTI - Should the Cowboys Pay Brandon Aubrey?

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Brandon Aubrey, the NBA MVP Race, and Duke vs. Notre Dame. 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 National. Quiet day, Tony.

What are your favorite quiet time activities? I'm Tony Cornhajum, meditating, reflecting, safe cracking. Is that even a thing anymore? Safecracking? Is anybody under like 90 years old? Is safe cracking something that a youngster would do? Do you know why you have to be quiet? You have to hear the clicks. You can hear it, I know.

You have to hear the click. But don't they just have something electronic, technology, cracks the same? I don't want that. I want real safe crack. Okay. Welcome to PTI, Boars and Girls. In today's episode of Rinkle in the NBA MVP race,

Duke rolls over Notre Dame, and Pat Riley calls for the return of coaches wearing suits. Thank God I hear it, parenthetically. But we begin today with a popular refrain around the Dallas Cowboys. Should so-and-so get his money? Uh-oh. But this time it's not Dak.

This time it's the kicker Brandon Aubrey. Aubrey has reportedly been offered a multi-year deal averaging close to $7.5 million a season. Aubrey reportedly wants close to $10 million. The highest paid kicker right now is Kansas City's Harrison Butker getting $6.4 million a year, so Aubrey would reset the market. Last year, Aubrey hit 11 field goals from 50 or beyond. Wilbon, should Aubrey get his money? I'm sorry, did I miss something?

Which you couldn't find a Laker's story? No, Lakers. You couldn't find Luca and LeBron yet? You went to a cowboy getting his money. Not today. I'm going to surprise you with this. I'm going to go straight Jerry and Stephen Jones and say no. No, no.

I know this guy had six kicks beyond 60. Beyond 60. I get it. He's prolific. He's wow. He also missed kicks. They either lost the game or didn't enable the Cowboys to extend the game. I saw those kicks.

So I know. It's also cyclical. Kickers, you think running backs have been de-emphasized? There's a kicker at every high school in America who thinks he's Steph Curry, who goes out to the logo to kick from 60. Every soccer team, every football team. You can find them. They're a dime, a dozen. Let them walk.

The cowboys can't sign people like their quarterback without drama. They're going to make a priority out of this dude. No. Okay, so let me go to some numbers because I think the numbers tell the story. Okay. He's 112 out of 127 career. That's 88.2%. From 50 and out, he's 35 of 44.

That's right around 80%. And as you say, six from 60. I think you should pay this guy a ton of money, and I'll tell you why. Because he keeps you in the game. when your offense stinks. And he sometimes wins the game when your offense stinks. They won seven last year,

and this guy won three of them. I get it. Nobody wants to pay a kicker. Guys on the football team don't want to pay the kicker. Like the players, though, because they're not on the team because they're separated

and they practice. But they have a disproportionate effect on the outcome of the game. And you know why I'm interested in this? I'm interested in this because of the new rule in the UFL, which basically has sponsorship from the NFL as a tryout, where if you go beyond 60,

you're going to get four points. As you know, my feeling is, that's fine, but I want to penalize you if you miss. If you miss from 61, I want to take one point off your score, which is my idea. I actually like this.

Yeah. But Tony, if that happens, it's going to be like four years down the road, and this dude will be out of the league anyway. My point is this, first of all, the Cowboys could wind up through various means with a second round pick. Second round pick,

I can get a Hall of Fame player with a second round pick, much less a kicker. I can trade down and get two picks and wind up. Some kickers have gone in the first round in our history knows. Yes, yes, yes, yes, but not many. Not many. All I'm saying is he's everything you said he is. But kickers, they're so fungible now.

You can find them and they all, the guy in Chicago, Santos, he's kicking in real elements, not like these indoor dome dudes, and he went like four for six from 50? Right, I'll tell you something. What? I love. when the Cowboys are on this show and we can scream about should or get his money.

That's good TV. No, we shouldn't get his money. It's good TV. Let's move to the Lakers. No, no, no. The NBA MVP race, which may end up with fewer candidates than you might think.

The NBA's rule is that players must play 65 games to qualify. It could cause Nicole Eokic's a shot at his fourth he can afford to only miss one more game. Shea Gilded's Alexander can only miss seven more and he's slated to miss tonight's game in Detroit.

Luca can only miss five more. Ton, would the MVP award feel compromised to you without those guys eligible? So let's do a small little history lesson here. You have to play to be eligible for awards, postseason awards. You have to play in 65 of the 82 games. That rule was instituted to stop load management.

Yes. That's what it was. It was not to stop people getting hurt. I like that. It was to stop load management. And that's a hard and fast number, 65 at the moment. Nobody thinks that Gilgis Alexander or Yokic does load management.

They're just hurt. So they fall on the wrong side of this at the moment. But it is, it's a hard and fast number. So let's go to this for a second. My position is simple. I believe you are less valuable if you play 61, 62, 63 than if you play 74, 75, 76. Yokic, 16 already, right? He's missed 16 already.

And Wembeyanama, 13 already. Gildes Alexander at 10 might qualify. Kate Cunningham has missed six. Jalen Brown has missed six. I believe, Mike, you're most valuable if you play. So if you give me Cunningham or Jalen Brown, I take them and I say the award is not devalued. We are not going to have phony disagreement here.

Because not only that, Tony, you mentioned a couple of the names. First of all, it's go time now. So not only is there no load management now for anybody that really cares, you're going to play through certain injuries because you want position, you want to either avoid the playing, you want to avoid San Antonio in the first time, whatever your motivation is,

we're at go time, we're 25 games and fewer. So I think if you got Jalen Brown eligible, you got Kate Cunningham eligible, you got Wimbabondi Alma eligible. Cunningham and Jalen Brown are on teams that are the equal or better than these other guys' teams.

No doubt. So, you know, I don't really want to hear. What this is about is, management and they're threatening people. They're saying, if you don't play, you can't get your contractual bonus because you can't win the award. That's a big deal, too. If the NBA doesn't want this, next year change

the number, okay? They could tweak it. Right now, it's 65, which is, here's the number, 79.2% of the games. It could be 60, that's 73% of the games. But don't tell me that the award is going to be devalued of Cunningham or Jalen Brown. It's not. First of all,

if Detroit and Cunningham win the East regular season, I'd probably vote for him anyway. He would be in my finalist, okay? Same thing with Jalen Brown leading a team without his supposed best player, his tag team partner, Jason Tatum, and certainly, come on, Yolka just, only won these awards. He's led his team to a title.

If he's, if he's enabled, you know, I'll make you a bet, a little side bet. Yolkes should not miss it any more games. Okay. This season. We'll see. But nobody's accusing them of being low-down. No, no, not at all. Let's go to college basketball.

Number one, Duke slaughtered Notre Dame last night. 100 to 56 in South Bend. It was the worst home loss for Notre Dame basketball since 1898. That's right. I said 1898, and I didn't even know there was basketball then. There's basketball now and Notre Dame in really playing it. Wilbon is the headline here, the size of Duke's win or the size of Notre Dame's loss? Notre Dame.

It's Notre Dame. It's for me. Somebody who grew up 92 miles from the South Bend campus, it's Notre Dame. and I understand Notre Dame basketball is not Notre Dame football, though. Do not tell that to our dear friend Digger Phelps, who should have, like, stood in a line and hugged each player as he left the court last night, because this is not the Notre Dame basketball that he built. Notre Dame has already lost nine, eight, they had already lost eight going in last night's game.

Double-digit games, Tony. Oh, okay, but they're 12-and-16 overall. Yeah, but I'm talking about just three-and-12 in a league. I'm talking about getting popped. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're losing by double digits in your Notre Dame. I turned, I had to fly last night. So that game was like a 16-point game when I clicked off.

I was watching. You continue to watch it. In between TGLs, baby, in between the TGLs. Look, thank you for mentioning Digger Phelps. They did a shot of Digger last night, and it was great to see Digger. Digger Phelps, who should be in the Hall of Fame, is synonymous with the glory days of Notre Dame basketball. I remember.

He is the glory days of Notre Dame. I remember when Digger. Feltz and Notre Dame stopped UCLA's winning streak in that building. Were you at that game? 88. No, but I was at the game when Digger Phelps and Notre Dame ended San Francisco's unbeaten season at 29 and all. I was here for that. And at that game, Digger before the game handed out green carnations to his assistant coaches, told him to wear him, and checked where the cameras were because Digger always wanted to know where the cameras were.

That was when Notre Dame basketball, it's never the equal of football. No. But it was close. It was a big deal. Pretty good. Now, Duke is the number one team in the country. Notre Dame was missing its top two starters. But you know the score at halftime?

54 and 22. 54 to 22. So it could have been a trap game. It was impressive by Duke because it could have been a trap game coming off Michigan. This is nothing like what Notre Dame used to be with Digger. And nothing like it was for a lot of the years with Mike Bray. Look, Mike, I'm getting nostalgic in my old age. I said this to you last week when I saw Duke pound Syracuse.

I said something's wrong. Syracuse is lost. I watched Notre Dame. I thought Notre Dame was lost. But you know what? Duke's not lost, and they change coaches too. They change coaches too. Duke has been able to maintain this in a way that very few other places,

Kansas, not even Indiana. No. Indiana, nice loss at home. To Northwestern. Wow. You had a good one. So Indiana hasn't been able to maintain it either. No.

Not a good night for basketball in the Hoosier State, huh? No, did the Pacers lose as well? I don't know about the who, but the college. Let's tell what they always do lose. Let's take a break. Coming up, Jonathan Camingo lit it up in his debut for the Hawks. What is the word for that? And how best to describe Pat Riley's call for coaches to start wearing suits again.

Brilliant would be the word that would come to mind quickly. Put it on. I have other words. Put it on. I was there with Digger. Digger should be in the Hall of Fettling out Green Carnations. Unthinkable that Digger is not in the hall of me. I don't understand that.

We're not talking about first ballots. Just any ballot. The doctor has entered the lab of Fab Vocab. Son's the coat. I forgot to bring the coat to the studio. What's first? Jonathan Caminga's debut for the Hawks was blank. My word is impressive.

Okay? He had 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals in 24 minutes. Yeah. Nine or 12 from the field, three of four from three. Against who? That floor was familiar. Well, I'm going to get to that. I'm going to get to that.

Okay. He came off the bench when the score was 12 to 9 in Atlanta. at the end of the first quarter is 35 to 20. Now, the opponent was the Wizards who were attempting to tank every single game. But you have to play who's ever on his schedule. It's not his fault. He was plus 16.

I don't know what happened between Cominga and Steve Kerr. But obviously it was enough to force Cominga out of Golden State. If he plays like this every night, the hawks stole him. Because as good as Porzingis may be, if he can't actually play,

what's the difference? Totally agree. with you, Tony. As you know, I'm going to get to the Golden State part of this. My word is, my bad, my bad, because you look at Camingo and what he's going to do. He's going to do this a lot, not all the time. He's going to average 27. It's my bad. Golda State, they didn't get this right, okay? And Steve Kerr, to me, who is going to the Hall of Fame as a coach, and is this one of my favorite people to have covered forever in my life as a sports writer in doing this. this was not Steve Kerr's best work to me and I would like to find out what happened

but this is my bad situation Jonathan Kaminga can play he is able-bodied he is long enough he plays out on the wing he can defend I'm not saying he did everything to the staff's liking in Golden State because he didn't but don't tell me that Jonathan Kaminga didn't have value

I was hoping the Bulls would get him in a trade with Vooch didn't occur to somebody in the Bulls front office don't you think that Golden State gave him every opportunity and at every step along the way he did something to antagonize him. Why would they? No, it didn't, it doesn't add up. Look, everybody makes personal mistakes, particularly when you're as good

as Gold Estate. You can get drafts wrong because you're reaching. This ain't a reach. He had them for... You saw it. They had him. For years. And they just said, you can't do it anymore. What's next? Pat Riley's call for coaches to wear suits is blank. It's great. Of course it's great.

Dress, you know, dress like an adult. So you better say it. You better say. You better say it. Dress like an adult. Dress like a leader. All right? Put on a suit and tie like Pat Riley. Does anybody think that Pat Riley's coaching ability was impaired by the clothes that he wore? All of these people in sweatsuits, to me, they look terrible. They look like they lost their luggage on the airplane in.

I mean, and they are out there, and it's not just them. All 20 assistants. All of them. On every single NBA team, where's the same thing. Look, you want to wear this in practice, that's fine. Don't wear this in the game. I think you will agree with me that Pat Riley and Chuck Daly were the best dress coaches out there for years and years and years.

Yeah. Right? They elevated their profession. These guys are lowering their profession. Nobody loves a good pair of Kashmir Zania Joggers like as much as I do. However, when you get to the game... You're a real man of the people. Zania, Kashmir Jogger Jogger Javier Jogger.

This is like the greatest compliment. I've ever gotten. I'm at Dwayne Wade's retirement party. Pat Riley says. That Riley says, I texted you. I was so excited. Pat Riley puts his hands on my shoulders, looks to me and says,

I loved what you had on the show on. I think it was Thursday. That's it. That's a mic drop. I'm not going to get a greater compliment than that. Right. Pat Riley put on a suit. And wear a turtleneck.

Wear a cashmere polo with a, put on a jacket, even if it's not a suit. Get dressed. They're guys like Doc Rivers can dress. Dr. Rivers has a closet full of suits. I know this. I know these guys have the suits.

Do you have a word? Did you give a word? Thank God. And the other word would have been, yeah. I don't understand why coaches think that. Does the league lets them? Because they're no standards anymore. When they are walking the sideline in that outfit, they have no authority.

Pat Riley had authority. Yes, he did. Authority. And you know what? This is more important than tanking. Put some coaches in suits. and you got guys who'll follow the coach. That's the final word.

Less likely to tank. Let's take one last break. Still to come. What is the extended loss of Sidney Crosby? Sid the kid no longer due to the Penguins' playoff chances. And does it make sense to move the traditional date of the Army Navy game? Why do they not wear coats and ties? They look so much better.

Why? They look great. They have enough money to buy them. They look really good. What are you doing? I don't get it. Larry Brown was really well dressed, too. Yes.

But nobody's high. Henrik Lundstrom. He's the best dressed. in the history of sports. Really? In the history of sports, the hockey. He goes ahead of Riley. Really?

The only guy ever to go ahead. Happy time, people. Happy 75th birthday, James Brown. Most of you know J.B. from anchoring the NFL today on CBS. He's been doing that since 2006. Before that, he anchored the Sunday football show on Fox from 1994 until he went to CBS. And he'd done college basketball play-by-play for years. But Wilbon and I knew James from his hometown days in Washington, D.C.

James Brown was a great high school basketball player at famed the Maffa, playing for Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wooten. There was talk of him going to a big basketball school like North Carolina, UCLA, but James chose instead to go to Harvard. A choice he has never regretted. When I started doing radio in 1992, I was doing 10 to 1. James followed me from 1 to 4. Wilbon, tell everyone why we love James Brown.

There's no better host. There's no better friend. There's no better neighbor. There's one thing I don't particularly like about J.B. What's that? He insists like our friends. of going through Baldougies and Safeway in the neighborhood, we're all neighbors. Right.

Through the produce and the fruits. And you don't do it. I don't want anybody in my house to think I'm ever going to touch the fruit or the veggies. Not doing that. J.B., he's so practical. You and I have a rift about that. I like to go shopping. Happy anniversary of Wichita State.

On this day, 12 years ago, the Shockers beat Bradley to become the first D-1 men's basketball team to reach 30 and O in the regular season. That team was led by now NBA vet Fred Van Ville. who coincidentally is celebrating his 32nd birthday today. A couple of other players on that team, Clee Anthony Early and Ron Baker, had a few years in the NBA. Wichita was coached by Greg Marshall, who resigned in 2020 after an investigation into alleged abusive behavior towards his players.

Wichita State went into that NCAA tournament as a number one seat, got its record to 35 and O before losing to Kentucky 7876 in the NCAA's second round. I also got a mention 62 years ago today. Young Cassius Clay shocked the world by knocking out Sunny Liston in Miami. Just a hell of an event

and a great event of all time. I remember that. I remember the next fight in Lewiston name. Do you know Sunny Liston's real first name? I do Charles. Charles. People thought Ali was going to get knocked out by Sunny Liston and perish in the ring.

My father was afraid Ali was going to lose his life. He was not Ali then. He was Cassius-Mars-Clai at that point. Happy Trail. In the trial, Sidney Crosby, the Penguin Star is expected to miss at least four weeks after suffering what has been termed a lower body injury during the Winter Olympics. That injury kept him out of the gold medal game against the United States could really hurt the penguins in their march towards the playoffs. The Penguins are currently in the postseason field but just points away from dropping out. And Crosby leads the team in goals, assists, and points.

Ah, Tony, it just seems that Crosby lately hasn't been able to get to that point. He did a few years ago. You're not a kid. He's not a kid. He's not a kid. Even though I would seem like I would root against Sidney Crosby, I want to see a healthy Sidney Crosby in the playoffs, no doubt. He's no longer Sid the kid, but he's always a player.

And a bonus happy trails to the traditional date of the Army Navy game. The two teams have met in the last game of the college football regular season for nearly a century. But Army coach Jeff Munkin tells the athletic he's in favor of moving it up two weeks, as long as the game is still the only one being played in its window. That would allow the game to count towards the American conference race and the playoff field, both of which have been decided a week prior to the game. It can also create space for another round of playoff games.

God help us to create any more space for any more playoff games. That game needs to have exclusivity. It's earned it. It should occupy that spot alone. And so I don't care what day they play it earlier in December, just alone. Yeah, what I was worried about when I first heard this was it would not be a solitary game because let's say they played it on Thanksgiving Day. NFL is on Thanksgiving. So you don't want that. You have to find a place in the schedule for

Army Navy. People, if for nothing else, people need to watch them march in. They do. It's one of the great spectators in sports. It's a wonderful thing. Marking away the time. You have an omission on the NBA and coaches wearing suits? Dr. Rivers has a really good idea. It says wear suits in the playoffs. That's a great idea. And the league I know has an apparel deal with, like, yeah, I don't care. I don't care about that. Football and basketball. God Look, Tom Landry, Mike Dithka, Vince Lombardi. Did those guys look great? Suit, coat, tight.

Big finish quickly. The Cavs beat the Knicks last night. Is that significant? Other than Hardin, James Hardin, fracturing his right thumb, he's going to play through it. I don't know that it particularly is. Sean Payton has given up offensive play calling for the Broncos, while Aaron Glenn is taking on defensive play calling for the Jets. Bigger deal?

There's no big deal with the Jets. Aaron Glenn says it's a superpower, really? Let's start using it. Luca hesitated to take a game-winning shot at 10. against the magic and dish to LeBron who missed your analysis. It's not that big a deal. It's a big deal is they're not great together, Tony, by any metric so far this season for the Lakers. Not offensively.

Baseball's number one prospect, 19-year-old Connor Griffin, Homer twice for the Pirates that's been training yesterday. Have you seen this kid? I haven't. I want to. I want to see him in schemes. They're bringing excitement in Pittsburgh. That's wonderful.

Last one. Thunder Pistons and Celtics Nuggets tonight, which is the more intriguing man. Selfics and Nuggets have most of their people playing. I think that's a more intriguing. We are out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Cornhine. Looks like a little load management.

OKC. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.