PTI - Steelers get Ramsey, Dolphins get Fitzpatrick: Who Won the Trade?

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss LeBron James, NFL trades, and Wimbledon. 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's International Asteroid Day, Tony. You fear asteroids?

I'm Tony Kornheiser. If the big one hits, just please let it happen before we have to take the SportsCenter's segment. It's all I'm asking. No. Don't want to do that. Nobody even knows what you're talking. You know what? An asteroid, when is the last time that caused some major problem for humanoids?

When is the last time? I think they land and hit the earth every day. I think there are small asteroids. That's what I'm saying. So it's not a problem. You'll still have a new sports center. It's a big one. If it's a size of Utah, it's a problem.

Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, the Steelers deal, Minka Fitzpatrick, Tarrick Scouble is almost unhittable, and Carlos Alcaraz struggle. But we begin today with LeBron James, opting into a one-year contract with the Lakers. For $52.6 million. This is the only time in his career that LeBron has opted into a one-year deal.

His agent, Rich Paul, says LeBron knows the Lakers are building for the future, but he wants to win a championship now in what could be the 40-year-olds last year. Wilbon, what does LeBron opting into his final year option say to you? I have no idea. I've gone back and forth on this since hearing the news, but I have no idea. And unlike you, I don't care to read T Lee. I don't usually give a damn about what it is that people mean. If it's important enough for me to care, then say what you mean and mean what you say.

And we know that LeBron and his camp often, you know, they have this passive-aggressive approach and they're saying one thing. You've got to read it and, you know, social media four days later as to what really it means. I don't care. I love seeing LeBron James play basketball. And I'm glad we're going to see it for at least one more year. don't know beyond that. I really do believe LeBron,

like that night when he sat there at the end of the season, he said, I don't know. I don't know yet. That's fair. He's earned the right not to know, my God. But the notion of, look, he wants to win another championship or so it seems when you listen to Rich Paul.

Well, then you might have to do something a little more creative so that you can go out and get another player who might be available, who you might take less money, but you don't owe that. You don't owe anybody to take less money. But if you want a championship,

then you might have. have to arrange it so that you do. But I don't know what he really wants other than the plan of the we know this. Despite what he said last week about ring culture, he wants a ring. And paying no attention to what he said about the culture. He wants a ring and that's why you play. And he should. That's why we watch him. Yeah. So I will help you with this as I explain what is going on here. First of all, we all need to agree on one thing. Yeah, we all have to agree on one thing, which is that LeBron shows no particular loyalty to any franchise. He left Cleveland to go to Miami. He left Miami to go to Cleveland. He left Cleveland to go to the Lakers. Did this

all on his own. Doesn't mind wearing another jersey. In fact, Mike, by 615 tonight, if he finds a deal somewhere and he's got another jersey on, he's going to be fine. Now, we have heard in recent days both Rich Paul and LeBron James be very, very publicly praising of Jeannie Bus. You do that for two reasons. You know, two things you have to know about that. One is the Jeannie Bus no longer owns the Lakers, really? So it's nice to just a pat on the back. But yeah, but she's out of there.

And the second thing that it really says is that LeBron understands that the Lakers in the future belong to Luca Donchich. He's got this one year to play if he chooses to play there. It is possible that he will decide, you know what, I don't want to play here anymore. I've got a no trade deal so I can work a straight deal. So now I will give you. some teams where he could go. I mean, and I think he's going to play the year with the Lakers, but if he chooses not to, where would be spots where he could win right now? Well, one would be

Cleveland. One would not be Houston because he's not going to be on the same team as Kevin Durant. One might be Denver, if you could work that out. One might be San Antonio and one might be the Knicks. Think of the feather in LeBron's cap if he won a championship with the Lakers and with the Nix. That would be something, right? Could go. It's what I'm saying. But I don't know how the Knicks give up. You got to get $50 million going the other way. And then you have, you know, I'm not saying it's impossible because the Bronx are great.

He's still great. Okay. Tony, what the finances, the economic situation. He makes every one of those teams a championship contender and he helps the league by doing it. Yeah, but you have to not if, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm not letting that go. he doesn't make him a contending if they have to. I'm explaining it.

No, I'm saying I don't know what he's talking about. I know what I'm talking about. If you have to send so much back to the Lakers that you don't have enough to contend, then he doesn't make them a contender. If you have to give up so much with that $50 million to the Lakers who are not going to just sit there and say, we're at a charity case,

then he doesn't make them a contender. And that's what the economic situation does their wind horse comes on this show and tells us about all the time. So what he's talking about and the reality of today's NBA, they may not align up. So I don't know that he can make them contenders or not. Let's just get out of this. Let's just get out of this story with this question.

Do you think LeBron James will play the entire season this year with the Los Angeles Lakers? Yes or no? I think so. I'll give you one of the team. Only one. Okay. Golden State.

Let's talk about a football trade that happened earlier today. Get off this. We're talking about a football trade. That's fine. The Steelers traded three-time all-pro safety, Minka Fitzpatrick, to the Dolphins for three-time all-pro quarterback, Jalen Ramsey, and tight-end, Johnner Smith. Wilbon, we have been awash in NBA drafts and trades and signings. What does this NFL trade say to you? Well, Tony, I go straight to the Steelers, and to, you know, I'm going to the glasses. Because I look at what the Steelers have been doing this off-season, you know, and they, you know,

they go and they get D.K. Metcalf, they sign Darius Slay. They trade for now for John Hsu Smith. Of course, but the two biggest parts of this are Aaron Rogers for one year and dealing away Minka Fitzpatrick, which if we listen to people talk about the Steelers, and former Steelers who are on the air talk about the Steelers, and people who are with the Steelers talk about the Steelers. Minka Fitzpatrick, while his production might have declined, is the heart and soul of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the Steelers don't go out and do things that seem just, you know, just irrational things.

They don't do that. The Steelers are studied and fairly predictable. And that's one of the reasons they win. They stick to, I don't want to say a script, but to a personality that fits who they are. I don't get any, I don't get most of that. And so I don't know what this means. Is Jailer Ramsey, okay?

He's really good for a while, and maybe he has a season or two left in him. But, Tone, he's been overstated like so many of these cornerbacks who are great for three or four years. And then, you know, like Revis Island, they're here in the Hall of Fame and they're gone tomorrow. He's like that. Yeah. So I don't, the Steelers, the Steelers, I'm going, whoa, what are they doing? This is fine. This is fine.

You didn't know with LeBron. You don't know with the Steelers. I'm here to explain it to you. My ears put up every time the Steelers are mentioned and they do something. something like this now. Why? Because of Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers, who is now publicly saying this is probably his last year. So no team in the league has a more urgent time to win than now than the Steelers, which is why they do these things. They're not looking at Jalen Ramsey for eight years. They're looking at winning this year. John Smith last year, he's a tight end. Maybe the Steelers

don't think that Aaron Rogers can go deep down the field anymore, so they want to keep a couple a really good tight ends. He had 80, what did it, 88 catches last year, 884 yards and eight touchdowns. Mike, those were dolphin records, all-time records for a tight end. Again, an urgency of right now. To get to the other part of this, we all have to take a step back, because these are the Steelers, and we have to ask ourselves, does this feel like the Steelers to us? Does this feel like Mike Tomlin to us? And then that voice inside of our heads comes out, and this is what the voice says, a familiar line. Buckle up, I think it's going to be a bumpy ride.

That's what's going on. Is that the Steelers to you? Is that the Steelers? Did I just say no? I said no. But it's who they are right now. Because they have to win right now. Trying to win.

But do they? They got to win right now. The Pittsburgh Steelers? Because of Aaron Rogers, one year. He's a one-year one-year one-year. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Have some ayahuasca and let's go to baseball.

Three noteworthy numbers from Sunday's games. 13 is the number of strikeouts thrown over seven innings by reigning A.L. Cy Young winner Tarek school bowl in the Tigers 3-0 went over the twins. Oh, that's a lot of that game. Two is the number of home runs Aaron Judge hit in a win over the A's, lifting him to 30 on the season. And four is the number of intense. intentional walks earned by your boy James Wood of the Nats

the most of the single game says Barry Bonds 21 years ago. Tony, which of these is the most impressive number to you? All right. So I'm eliminating Aaron George right away, not because I don't like him. I love him. He's great. No. But because this is the fifth time already this season, just to the end of June, where he's had multiple Homer games. If he hit three, I would have said, okay, you got me. It's three, but he didn't he hit two. I watched a lot of the Tariq Scoobel game as well. He's, he's great. I guess he struck out eight of the first nine,

nine of the first 11. He struck out every single twin in the lineup, every single one, which doesn't happen very often. And yeah, maybe he's headed for another side. It looks like it's either him or Max Fried in the American League. But you know that I follow the nationals, and I know about James Wood. The nationals have a treasure in James Wood at the moment. Four intentional Walker's insane. You said before it's the last time since, it's the first time, rather, since Barry Bonds in 2004. Barry Bonds at that point, Mike, in his career, had 658 home runs. James Wood has 31. That's all he's got is 31. So that's elite company. The strategy is simple. Nobody else on the Nats can really hurt you. James Wood has 22 home runs this year.

Maybe Nathaniel Lowe can hurt you. So you put him on base and a team doesn't beat you. but they beat them anyway in extra innings. Yeah. All right, the answer to this question is Scoople, but you went over that so well. I'm not going to go back. I'm just going to go back to something you said. James, what is a treasure?

Does that mean, one, you stunned me with that, two, does that mean like every other great nationals player? He's out the door in two years to make a billion dollars somewhere else? With the Mets or Philly. His statistics, he has played 163 games in the major leagues. As of 162, he had 31 homers and 105 RBI. Juan Soto, 31 and 107. Bryce Harper, 31 and 77, and they lost those two.

You cannot lose this guy. Let's take a break. Coming up, the U.S. men beat Costa Rica in the Gold Cup. But was there a more notable soccer result yesterday? And Novak Djokovic says this Wimbledon might be his best shot at major number 25. It sounds like Wood will be gone before I can get back to Washington. To even go buy a ticket to see him. Can't lose.

Pardon the interruption is brought to you by AutoZone. Get in the zone. Time to find out what the rabble's babbling about in mail time. Let me see what's first here. More notable, the U.S. men beating Costa Rica in the Gold Cup or Leonel Messe and into Miami getting crushed by PSG and the Club World Cup. Tony, you know it's messy and Inter-Miamy getting crushed. If you talked about this on your podcast this morning and live time yesterday on the phone, Tony, remember how in the old days players, the greatest players, would sit by the locker and they would have clippings of newspapers

and they can see what the other people, other teams and coaches and managers has said about them, and they'd work themselves into a lather and then go out and beat your brains out. This is like that. The PSG team just said, what? What? What? Messy and inner Miami? And they just, they scored four goals. they could have scored 8th.

They had mercy in the second half. That beat down. I realized the other game might have been more significant, but it was watching PSG beat down messy in Miami. I seem to recall that on Friday we did a preview segment of this, and you said you thought PSG might not even care about this. And you said even if PSG loses, it wouldn't be a big deal in Europe,

because everybody in Europe would know that they didn't put a full effort into this. And then I asked you, who's going to win. In fact, very tentatively, you said, said to me, I think PSG is going to win. That's exactly right. And I thought he's not really believing in this. Yeah, 1.05 minutes in, 4 o' into the fourth. The other game, don't tell me about beating Costa Rica.

Let me know when they make the finals. Here we go. Next one. Novat Djokovic says this win will then maybe his best chance remaining to win a 25th major. What chance are you giving him? I'll give him 15%. Just somebody else could beat Al-Qaraz and or center and lead from a path. We've seen this.

You covered Wimbledon. You saw people like Johnny Mack and Connors and guys who played great on grass, though not Borg early and not Federer early. But we've seen some of the greats lose early on grass. And I think that would have to happen, Tony, because I don't think the Joker can beat Sinner or Al-Qarize in this tournament. 15% of somebody else takes them out. Yeah, so, you know, I'm a little surprised, Joovemich said this because he's got seven Wimbledons, but he's got 10 Australians.

I guess he's sort of convinced because he's been in the finals of Wimbledon the last six years. But the last two years, he's lost to Alcaraz. I know Alciras had trouble in the first round, but Alcaraz, then I take it as playing in this tournament. Because if he's there, that's trouble for Joachovic. And Joachovic would have to beat Sinner in the semis.

The last time they played the semis was about a week and a half ago with the French. And center won in straight sets. So, yeah, if Jokovic wins this, retire on the spot, all the glory in the world. Because I don't think you can be in both. Not female. Yeah.

Let's take one last break still to come. The Mets get right back to swimming. And his trade partners begin to sniff around. Should the Steelers, the Steelers again, consider dealing T.J. Watt. The Steelers, they're Monty Hall. Are they sniffing around like, like vultures on dead animals?

Pardon the interruption is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Own your tomorrow. Happy time, people. Happy 60th birthday Mitch Richmond. The Hall of Fame Guard was one-third of the Golden State Warriors' exciting 1990s run TMC offense with Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullen. Richmond was a six-time NBA All-Star, five times with the Sacramento Kings who retired Richmond's number two. Richmond was NBA rookie of the year. NBA rookie of the year in 1989 then waited 13 years to get a ring.

He was a reserve on the 2002 Lakers, and it was Richmond who dribbled out the clock as the Lakers completed a four-game sweep of the nets. Richmond won a bronze medal as a collegian in the 1988 Olympics, then won gold with NBA players in the 1996 Olympics. Tony, I know they didn't win anything, but three of my favorite players in, I don't know, The last 35 years in the NBA are those three you just mentioned with Run TMC. They were so exciting. They were a big man away from stuff.

But I just, I loved watching all three of them and got to know Mitch Richmond. Happy birthday, Andy. Happy anniversary, Dave Stewart and Fernando Valenzuela. This is posthumous for Valenzuela. But around the state, 35 years ago, both men pitched no hitters on the same day. It was the first time that happened since 1898. Stewart, pitching for the A's no-hit the Blue Jays 5-0 in Toronto. Hours later in 2,500 miles to the west, Valenzuela and Dodger Blue,

no-hit the Cardinals 6-0. ESPN had a good day, broadcasting both no-hitters back-to-back. This was at the tail end of Valenzuela's legendary career with the Dodgers. It was likely Stewart's top regular season accomplishment, though he has three World Series rings. Ton, I'm glad you said regular season, because Stewart went on, of course, to win a World Series with, Toronto, after winning one with the A's and one previously earlier in his career with the Dodgers.

A melancholy trails Dave Parker. The terrific right fielder passed away on Saturday at the age of 74, just one month before he was due to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Known as the Cobra, Parker played 19 seasons in the majors, peaking with the pirates in the late 70s when he won two batting titles in MVP and a World Series. He won another championship while on the A's in 1989. Parker stood 6'5 was also a terrific fielder with a huge arm on display here, throwing out Brian Downing at the plate in the 1979 All-Star game. Tony, you know, I watched some clips on Dave Parker last night in stories, and he came into baseball with the pressure of playing right field in Pittsburgh, which is where the great Roberto Clemente played. And he talked about Willie Stardial, Hall of Fame teammates, saying to him,

don't worry about it. You can't follow Clementi. You just got to be you, Dave Parker. But when you see Dave Parker with that cannon of an arm throwing out of right field, how do guys like you and I not think of Clementi? And he upheld the position of right field in Pittsburgh. It's impossible, but he did it.

100% agree with that. And also a melancholy trail is to D. Wayne Lucas. The legendary racehorse trainer died Saturday night at the age of 89. Of his nearly 5,000 wins, Lucas's horses won four Kentucky derbies and 15 triple-crown races overall, including six consecutive he entered with four different horses spanning 1994 to 1996. Out of college, Lucas taught at a high school coached the basketball team for nine years until his side hustle proved more lucrative, and he started training horses full-time at the age of 32. Tony, how about that?

At the behest of the great Andrew Beyer, our colleague and friend of many decades, I had a conversation with D. Wayne Lucas and Churchill Downs once. It was all about basketball, him talking about it being his first love and coaching in high school and how he just couldn't get out of his blood. He was close with Bob Knight and lots of others, and that was a fascinating thing for him to be that neck deep in more than one sport. His nickname was.

the coach. Let's go quickly to the big finish. The trailblazers is poured after Andre Aiton. The Bulls traded Lonzo Ball, the jazz traded Colin Sexton, and most surprising move. Quick. Maybe Aiton, Tony. He's been in the finals. He can help somebody. Lakers, maybe, if they had any money. James Harden declined his one-year option with the Clippers, but has reportedly agreed to a two-year extension worth up to 81.5 mil. That makes sense, doesn't it? Of course, he got two years money instead of one. Free agent guard,

Malik Beasley, under investigation for Allie. of gambling on NBA games. Your thoughts? He has not been charged, but it has our attention. The Mets got swept by the pirates. How bad was that, Tony? This bad outscored 30 to 4. Last one, Adam Schaeffer reports. Teams are discussing trying to trade for T.J. Watt. Think the Steelers will listen. I'm going to start when we started this store and started this show. I have no idea what the Steelers are doing. Maybe they will listen. Unthinkable, but maybe.

We're out of time. Trying to be better the next time. I'm Tony Kornajel. I'm Mike Lobon, same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. BTI.