PTI - Spurs are title contenders this season!

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the impact of San Antonio's performance against the Pistons and if they're title contenders. 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. It was just National Be Humble Day, Tony. How do you stay humble?

I'm Tony Kornheiser, perspective. Sometimes you're on top of the world, other times you're on ESPN2 for the second straight day. Ah, the deuce. The deuce, what's been placed on us? The combine, some tennis or soccer around the world. No, no, no. No.

What? TGL, TGL, which I watched again last night. because I love seeing pros hit a ball into a bed sheet. I do. You don't. I do. I really like it. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Kansas beats Houston. Kirk Cousins will be looking for a new team, and Brian Windhorst joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with the San Antonio Spurs going into Detroit last night and beating the team with the best record in the NBA, 114-103. Victor Wembenyama had 21. 17 rebounds and six blocks for San Antonio.

On the other side, Cade Cunningham had one of his worst shooting nights of the season, finishing five for 26 from the field for the Pistons. Wilbon, what does this win mean for your spurs? Tony, I think the spurs are showing themselves every night with every one of these games and they got a great record against the top teams in the league this season. Hey, forget what these people are saying about we're too young. We're not. Let's do this now.

When Banyama has certain, I mean, a certain maturity about him that seems to spread throughout that team. By the way, a name nobody mentions, talking about mature and sensible and just a really bright light to have on your team, Deeran Fox. He didn't have a great game. I said, didn't need to. But they seem to know how to play, you know, just together. And one person or one part of that team picks up another the next night. They're playing Detroit. Detroit, a lot of us think can win the East, Tony. I will say this quickly about the Pistons. We saw last night their weakness. They need another

scorer to go with Kate Cunningham. Jalen Duren is fine, but he's not, they need another score or they're going to struggle in the playoffs. One game's a different deal. But Wimbabon Yama, tone, it's Wimbabonjama's world right now. I know you make fun of me rightfully so, because

I've fallen in love with him last night's one of those reasons. Yeah. I mean, you slurped out, like you might as well be on the payroll. I mean, honestly, You may as well like go everywhere with them and be on the payroll. So we understand it. Look, my tendency, as you know, is to try not to get carried away with isolated games, to try to say that none of these single matchups really means much.

But piggybacking on what you said, the San Antonio Spurs are now eight and one against the best teams in each conference. In the east, that is Detroit, New York, and Boston. and in the west, that is Oklahoma City and Denver. Eight in one, it is hard to minimize eight and one. It's hard to knock eight and one against these teams. They are four in one against Oklahoma City, which is the reigning NBA champions. So what happened last night just adds to their resume, and in fact, for most casual onlookers, alerts them to the fact that San Antonio could win the whole thing.

They could. They are that good. And Tony, that goes against everything. you and I believe in philosophically that some new kid on the block could win. We don't believe that, but yet those numbers you just mentioned are they're making us at least pay attention in that direction. Yeah, I don't want to go on forever about this because you could say that Kate Cunningham was not going to have a bad night like that again, but he was three for 16 once.

He was 14 for 45 in another again. The defense that Stefan Castle put on him, you know, limited him to three for 17 from two-point shots. So, I mean, and I'll just, I'll finish by saying this, and I respect Wembe Nama a lot. Does this mean that San Antonio is necessarily better than Detroit? It does not mean that, but they have a leg to stand on now. They have a leg to stand on. We agree. Still slurping, but we agree. Let's move to last night's big college game where eighth ranked Kansas got a 13-point win over number five, Houston. Trey White led all scores with 23 points, and Darren Peterson actually played 30 minutes, and Kansas rebounded from Saturday's disappointing defeat to unranked Cincinnati tone.

What's the bigger news to you that Kansas got to bounce back when or the Houston has now lost three straight? By far, the biggest news is that Houston has lost three straight by four. Wow. It started out, started out at number six Iowa State. They lost at Iowa State by three. Then they were home against then number four, Arizona, and they lost by seven. Last night, at number eight, Kansas, and they lost by 13. Now, Houston, for much of this, was ranked two. Two in the country. You have to put that in perspective. Yes, they lost two very good teams,

ranked teams, but the number that they lost by got progressively higher from three to seven to 13, which tells me that if they are in the first tier still, Houston, they are at the bottom of the first tier. They don't feel like a two-seed or a one-seat anymore. They feel more like a three-seed to me, because as the season goes on, now is where they are stumbling. It's not big news that Kansas won, and it was very predictable. Kansas got bombed at home by unranked Cincinnati. It was the worst home defeat Kansas has had to an unranked team in Bill's self's 23 years, which is motivation, kids, to win the next game, as in, hello, Houston, you've got a problem.

I mean, that's what happened here. That had to happen, though, Tony. It had to happen. Kansas had to come back like that because of the conditions you just set up. They had to. And they did. Houston, I will say this. You know, coaches, a lot of coaches have been behaving badly lately.

Kelvin Samson is not one of them. He sat there at a microphone the other night after his team lost, I think, the second of those three games. And he said, you know what? I'm not going to overreact to go crazy about this. This league, he's talking about the Big Eight or whatever there. called now the Big 14, Big 8. Big 12. Big 12.

He said, here's what we know about every game. A really good team is going to win and a really good team is going to lose. And he's talking about Iowa State and he's talking about Kansas and he's talking about Arizona, you know, relatively still freshly in from the Pack 12. He's talking about this unbelievable glut of teams at the top of that conference. Really good team going to win. Really good team going to lose. That's some perspective. And I know he's agitated about losing three straight.

Kelvin Samson is trying to win a championship. Houston will be fine. They'll be fine this week. Watch. We mentioned this yesterday, that it seems like all the good teams are playing all the good teams all the time. That's because the Big 12 and the Big Ten are very good.

I'll go east. I'll go to I-95. I believe it's tomorrow night, number six Yukon against number 15 St. John's with a 13-game winning streak. It's good. Later on over the weekend, Kansas, Arizona. So they're out there. They're out there. Let's move to the NFL and the confirmation by the Atlanta Falcons that they plan to release quarterback Kirk Cousins on March 11th, the first day of the new NFL calendar. This will provide Atlanta with salary cap relief. More importantly, it once again makes the 37-year-old cousins a free agent. Wilbon, do you see cousins starting for an NFL team next season? Yeah. He'll start some games. I think it's unavoidable. I mean, half the backups play anyway because you're you get injuries and you get, you know, underperforming players who are then benched.

And so Cousins, yeah, I mean, there are places where they don't even know where the quarterback's going to be now. They don't have a starter. Pittsburgh, they don't have a starter. I'm not calling Aaron Rogers their starter. Cleveland, I don't know what they have. And you can just, I think there's six or seven teams that are in that situation. Miami doesn't appear to want the starter they have.

So can Kirk Cousers go there and be at least a bridge starter? yes, temporary in whatever form, yes, a couple more years, yes. So, yeah, and he's got his money. Kirk Cousins got his money without us going over it like Dak Prescott, you know, every single day for like nine years. Kirk Cousins got 100 mil or what close to it. And so he can go play for anything he wants, essentially wherever he wants, if he thinks gives him a chance to either start or contribute to a team that matters.

Yeah, if the question is, do I see Kirk Cousins starting for an NFL team this year? I saw him starting for Atlanta this year, ahead of Michael Penix Jr. Kirk Cousins finished last year four and oh. He had seven touchdown passes and two interceptions in those games. One of the teams he beat was the Rams. One of the teams he beat was Tampa Bay. He got his team Atlanta to where they tied for the division. They were eliminated on a match of cards, you know, like however that works.

but he got them that far. At the end of the season, Penix was hurting. He was better than Pennix. So, you know, I saw him starting there. All the teams you mentioned, I could see him starting. I could see him starting. Arizona doesn't know what it wants to do with its quarterback. That's right.

But most of all, I can see him starting at Minnesota. I could see Minnesota getting a mulligan on letting him go the first time. Well, why do you make that face? What exactly has King King McCarthy proven to this point? Nothing. Nothing. No, they don't. play him because they took them. You know how teams

cover their own butts when they select somebody in the first round. And that's what Atlanta's doing. That's what Atlanta's doing with Pennock. They're covering themselves. You know, the other thing they could do, he could go to the Raiders. The Raiders have the number one pick. Fernando Mendoza. Okay. Do you want to start him in game one?

Or do you want to say, watch this older veteran and try to learn something? It just feels like another dumb move by Atlanta to me. Let's take a break. Coming up, why is Adam Silver suddenly so focused on tanking we're going to ask Brian Windhorst. We'll also ask him which team he sees winning the Eastern Conference.

You're killing the Falcon. You're killing the last time. Do you know the last time that Kansas lost consecutive home games to unranked team? It was 1980 and 89. They're not going to do it. Consecretive home games. They're not going to do it. They win at home.

Pardon the interruption is brought to you by Coca-Cola. Drink in the FIFA World Cup 26. The NBA is entering the stretch run for both the winners and the tankers, which makes it a perfect time for a visit from our great friend ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst, who's in L.A. Let's start with this. Brian, I think tanking is a much bigger deal than Wilbon does. Why do you think Adam Silver is taking tanking so seriously now? And how do the teams feel about this? Three reasons. Number one, it's happening much earlier in the calendar than it ever has before. Number two, the number of teams that are doing it, you could debate maybe there's eight, maybe there's 10. It depends on who wants to be honest.

Number three, it's the way that they're tanking. It used to be that they would just deactivate players. And this started in the last couple of years, but is now very prevalent where there are players who are in games who are being taken out of games, which makes it now within the four lines, which before it was outside the four lines. Obviously, if you look at the San Antonio Spurs, look at how great they are, look at how their future is so. amazing. They were built by tanking through the draft. The Thunder, they tanked, you know, a year or two. They didn't tank for five years. They tanked a year or two. Dynasty teams are often built this way. And if you're a small market team like Memphis, like Salt Lake City, you know,

one of these other small market teams, this is how to go forward with it. Anybody would say this is the way to go. And that's what these teams are doing. I'm so glad that you approach it that way, Brian, let's follow up by asking you this. There's now been a reveal of anti-tanking measures, at least potentially. I don't believe any of them would work worth a damn do you. Because you've been around for a while, with all due respect. The first anti-tanking measure was the lottery. That was in the early 80s.

Since then there have been five adjustments to the lottery. Then there was the play in tournament. So that's seven adjustments. So whatever adjustment this is, even if it's a time. inspired will be the eighth. And guess what? It may work in the short term, but there will be a ninth, there will be a tenth. As long as you incentivize teams to move to a certain part of the standings to get better players, they will do so. And that is why what they are looking at is to try to incentivize winning. Whether or not they can get a system that actually works, that's

another story. Amen. That's about the most concise and likable answer I've heard. Tony's probably frowning. Let's talk about the Eastern Conference in the NBA, Brian, which I heard you talking about a little earlier today on NBA today. So the Pistons lose last night. The Cavs and Knicks play tonight.

Do you see a favorite Boston, as Tony pointed out very early on, he was on that horse early, playing so well with Jalen Brown. Do you see a favorite? What do you make of the East as we start this bell lap? My 20 years plus of covering the NBA, all of the conversations,

that I have with the scouts and executives and coaches and all the games I watch, I can honestly say I do not know. Any of these top four teams I can make a case for, I can make a case against. I think the one big thing is the one team that is going to materially get better is obviously the Celtics. If they get Jason Tatum, that's a game changer. But just because they get him, I don't know how he's going to be. Tonight, DeJante Murray is coming back from his Achilles tear with the New Orleans Pelicans.

He is 13 months off the injury. Jason Tatum is nine months and three weeks. You know, he's less than 10 months off of it. Just to assume he's going to come back and be ready to go, I think is not fair to him. So I do think that is a huge, huge thing that could change the whole Eastern Conference. But I have no idea what actually is going to take place. I think it's exciting, but it's also going to be hard to predict, which I think is a good thing. All right, I will get you out of here on this, and I will make not a large,

reference to tanking, which I think is dastardly. I think everyone should think it is dastardly, but let's go to this. Kawhi Leonard is averaging a career high 28 points per game. What, if anything, have you heard about the status of the NBA's investigation into Pablo Torre's story about possible cap circumvention by the clippers, you know, in a no-show job? Yeah. So first off, as far as I am aware, the investigation is ongoing. That is an unsatisfying answer, but that is. It is a is what I believe is the case. When they complete the investigation, what is the process going to be? I don't think anybody knows.

I know the reason that people are focused on this is that there's a concept that, oh my gosh, what if Kauai is punished and his contract is voided and all of a sudden he becomes a free agent? I know that that is the thing that's out there. Well, a couple of things. I don't know what's going to happen. I wish I could say I've got all of the information and here's this going to happen. I don't have it. So I think the NBA is still trying to get it.

The second thing is, people have continued to compare this to Joe Smith way back 25 years ago. Joe Smith was not punished. His contract was indeed voided, but he was not punished. So that's, if you're looking at precedent, I just want to point that out. The third thing is any NBA free agent, no matter how he becomes a free agent, would have to be a free agent by March 1st for him to be eligible to sign with another team. I find it very unlikely we're going to get any final on this by March 1st. whether it's punishing Kauai, Clippers, anybody or not.

So I think as far as Kauai goes, I think this is going to be a next year thing, as far as the Clippers go. I think there's serious concern that they're facing repercussions. How serious? We're going to have to wait and see. Yeah, it doesn't really feel like

an aggressive investigation, but maybe it is. Thank you, Brian. Brian, appreciate you, dude. Let's take one last break. Still to come, has the U.F.L. Wilbon's favorite football league Yeah. Open the door to making long NFL field goals worth four.

Four. It is the time really now for a rematch between Mayweather and Pachia? What is this? The first week of PTI revisit it? What? What? Yeah. Well, it's not like they're both in their late 40s or 50s.

Oh, wait. I think it is. Oh, wait. They absolutely are. You know what's going to happen to Kauai and the Clippers? Not a damn thing. Nothing. You heard it here first.

Nothing. No, the NBA does not want to investigate or punish. Does not want to. Nothing's happening. Happy time. People happy 79th birthday, Mike Fratello. Fretto has one of the all-time great nicknames, the czar of the Telestrator,

as bestowed on him by Marv Albert. Fertello got to the Telestrator early before most people saw the possibilities. Fertello had dovetailing careers as a coach and a broadcaster. His first head coaching job in the job in the NBA was in Atlanta, beginning in 1983. He was there for seven years, was coach of the year in 1986. Furtello then coached in Cleveland, where he still lives and in Memphis. He was in the booth at NBC and TNT and on broadcast crews for the Clippers, the nets, the heat, and the

cavaliers. Wilbon, tell the people why we love Fertello. Because it's on a short list of greatest guy in the world. For years, Tony and I and others, we call on Fetlo for his basketball acumen to help us do our jobs. And then we came to realize that anywhere Mike Fetello is coached, he knows better restaurants than you know. And the ones you can't get in, he can get you in. Did I misrepresent that? The czar is the greatest. Happy anniversary, John Stockton, on this day, 33 years ago, the Future Hall of Fame point card picked up seven assists in Utah's loss to Houston to become only the fourth player with 8,000 career assists, joining Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Thomas. There are now 13 players with 8,000 more assists. Stockton has left them all in the dust.

Stockton's total of 15,806 assists is more than 3,000 clear of Chris Paul's 12,552. The current leader is LeBron James, 11,854. Like LeBron, all the active current leaders are aging veterans. Until you get the 31-year-old Nicola Yolkich sitting on 5,825, and he's a center. Can I talk about Stockton's toughness for a second? 162. John Stockton played 19 seasons. In 16 of those seasons, he played all 82 games, and in the 17th season,

he played all 50, because that's all the league played. I keep hearing about how today's athletes are bigger, stronger, tougher than they used to be back in the day. 11 dudes played 82 games last year in the league. John Stockton did it by himself

16 times. Happy trails to Floyd Mayweather's retirement. The unbeaten boxer says he'll enter the ring once more in a September 19th three match against Manny Pachia. It's been 11 years since the now 49-year-old Mayweather beat the now 47-year-old Pachial, and Mayweather says this time the result will be the same. Pachial looks surprisingly good last year when he earned a draw against 30-year-old Walterway champ Mario Barrios. I don't know whether either these fighters needs money or just wants money. Mike, how do you feel about this?

Tony, it's frightening to me. I mean, the talk is out there, particularly about Mayweather. and I know if we spent a lot of time in Southern California and a place where Mayweather used to live, that the Bellman would change the days they work to be there to wait for the tips coming from Mayweather. I hope that's not that extreme. And by the way, they should have fought 20 years ago. I don't want to see it now.

Big finish really quick. The Kings beat the Grizzlies to snap their 16-game losing streak. Are you impressed? No. The Dolphins, GM, says everything's on the table with Tua and Nick Siriani says he wants AJ Brown back, but he's not going to try to guarantee it. What's the bigger deal, Tome? Right now, it's the fact that Tua is probably going to leave, leaving them no quarterback,

except maybe Kirk Cousins. The Raiders say they expect Max Crosby to stay, play for the team this season. Do you? No, I don't. That might be just wishful thinking, but that's not what I expect. The UFL is making field goals of 60-plus yards worth four points. Do you like that? I do like that as long as you go minus one if you miss.

There's got to be a penalty. Last one, unbeat Miami of Ohio at Eastern Michigan tonight. Are you smelling upset? No, Tony, they're playing a 10 and 18 team, 4 and 11 in the conference, and they've got something big on the line to stay undefeat. We're out of time. We'll try to do better than next time. I'm Tony Cornhunt.

I'm Mike Wilbon. We're back on the mothership tomorrow, knuckleheads. Sony, I'm sure that's going to make you smile. And now, you're sports. What, no TGL tomorrow night? What? What?