PTI - Things Heating Up Before the NBA Deadline!

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser Discuss AD/Wizards, Harden/Cavs, Tom Brady/Super Bowl + more. 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 like, Will Bond, the winner. Olympics actually started today. Today, Tony.

What's your favorite memory of covering? I'm Tony Kornheiser, landing that exclusive with Sonia Henney right after she won gold back in 28. Oh, that's, yeah, yeah, 28. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. No, 1920. No, 1928. Do you remember Sonia Henney at all? Do you have any sense of what she looked like or what she did? Yes, because they're full disclosure. you and I have actually studied the Winter Olympics. Yeah.

And we went. You've got to know something about it. He's a great skater. She won a billion medals. You actually liked it. I did. As much as the song. I loved it.

I really did love it. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, James Hardin is a cab. Tom Brady plays it down the middle, and Steve Young joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with the Mavericks trading away the man they got for Luca Donchers. Dallas Dell 10-time All-Star, Anthony Davis, and three other players. to the Wizards for Chris Middleton, three other players, two first rounders, and three seconds.

Wilbon, how do you make sense to this deal? Tony, at first blush, I first heard about it. I thought, oh, Anthony Davis is not going to play. Trey Young's not going to play. What is the point of this? But then, continue thought about it. Some things that really stand out to me that I think are favorable about this deal for the Wizards.

First, they didn't have to give up any of their own first round. Now, they got to give up one of Oklahoma cities, which is going to be 30th. Let's face it, they're going to finish first in the standings and then last in lottery and last in draft picking. And also, they didn't have to give up any of their young

core of players represented most by SAR, who they got high in the draft last year. I know you watch the team much more than I do, and you have a sense of how each one of these young guys, cool about how they come along. I know you do. And so I'm interested to hear you about this. So my thoughts are there's no risk.

Yeah. Like even if Anthony Davis doesn't play much, and I hope he does. Because I just, I know Anthony Davis is a little bit of root for him. But when you keep your own people, your own young guys that you need to build, and you keep your draft picks, or you keep your future, I think with no risk, I like it. I'm much more cynical about it than you are and have been for a couple of years about this particular team. Okay. But even this move?

Well, let me get to this. Because the first thing I want to say is we can now close the book on Nico Harrison. Yeah. Nico Harrison, it turns out this is what he traded Luca Donchich for so far. Chris Middleton, nice player, 34 years old can barely move. And 29 games worth of Anthony Davis. Now they are accepting draft picks. They're in a complete rebuild.

They traded away 25-year-old Luca Donchich, and they're now in a complete rebuild. That's why he should have been fired that night. The Wizards, on paper, wow, Anthony Davis and Trey Young, look great on paper. The problem, as you well, know is one of them is always hurt, and now the other one is hurt. Increasingly hurt. So we don't even know if they'll ever going to play together.

I don't know what the Wizards are doing. I thought they were going to build through the draft. Are they going to now try to win? They've been trying to lose for three years. To give you some context, last night they played at home. They were down at the half, 70 to 45 at home. So, you know, Sarr may be a very good player, but the rest of the people you're talking about are indistinguishable from one or another.

They're from 6-4 to 6-7. You know, they have one good night and one bad night. So I'm of the perception that they are done tearing down. I would think. I'm going to build a little bit. But, Tony, nobody's expected, I'm not expecting Anthony Davis and Trey Young to be leading the parade when they have one. But I think you have to have vets, responsible vets, dependable vets, in practice, in locker room on the road, on the bus. They had, they had, Chris Middleton was one of their vets.

and McCollum was one. And then he got rid of both of them. So they got rid of both of them. Let's move to James Harden. Yesterday we talked about the possibility of him being traded. Today we are talking about Hardin, having been officially traded. Hardin goes to Cleveland from point guard, Darius Garland, and a second round pick. Seems this would happen pretty quick.

Wilbon, what does this mean for each team involved and for Hardin? Well, for Hardin is going to mean more money. It won't mean as much money as he wanted, which was $80 million over two years. I think that's done. And he wasn't going to get that. and the Clippers let him know, we're not doing that. Now, I don't blame them. So let's go to the Wizards.

The Wizards, see? I'm fixated with the Wizards now. No, let's go to the Cavaliers. Tony, I think this actually helps them. They needed some size, and Hardin is a larger guard at 6-5-plus, and substantial, as you know, and has some heft, and plays a lot of games and takes a lot of punishment, and he's done that over the years.

And I think Hardin is looking at this the way we look at it, to say, you know what, I ain't got all that much time left. Let me be somewhere where they can win, where there are bigs, including Mowgli, who he can help make better. I like this. And it takes some pressure off of their star player who can go and get 45 points, just like Hardin used to be able to do in a playoff game.

I like this for Cleveland. Okay. I'm going to talk about what I talked about yesterday for perspective. Here are the numbers of James Hardin in the career regular season. 24 a game, seven assists, six rebounds, 43.8% from the field, 36% from three. Here are his career playoff numbers, 22.5 points, 6 and a half assists,

5 and a half rebounds, 42.5 from the field, and 34 from 3. Across the board. And I love James Harden, but across the board. He's never won a ring, and he's been in one final. If I'm Cleveland, I make this trade because I want to win now this year, I want to put him in the back court with Donovan Mitchell and see if they can get 60 points every single game.

They got to the finals of the conference last year, were beaten by Indiana, and they were the favorites. They had a real good team last year. So I want Hardin to take me over the top, and I wish it to him. But I think to myself, his playoff numbers are not what you want them to be. So if James Harden was ever going to have a sense of urgency about that, this year?

This year. And playing with Donald and Mitchell is not a small thing. And I think, you know what's only a little less can be better, not that you want every number dropping. But I think that James does a little less. Look, James Hardin can go out there in playoff games and get you double-digit assist, which on that team can matter. So neither of us has talked about the other team.

The Clippers. Who were the hottest team like a minute ago? I'm going to tell you this about the Clippers. He's a good guard. Garland's a good guard. He's 10 years younger. He is. It doesn't matter.

They are a perpetually disappointing team. They really are. They have names all the time and they never win. And I am wondering if down the road, road, we're going to see Kauai Leonard suspended for that alleged no-show job situation. I'm wondering. I'm just going to jump in right there and say no.

I don't think anybody's getting suspended, but it's a worthy question. Yeah. And now to Tom Brady's rooting interests in this year's Super Bowl, says he ain't got one. The man who won six with the Patriots and whose images forged into a 17-foot-tall statue

outside Jolet Stadium tells Jim Gray, quote, I don't have a dog in the fighting this one, made the best team win, close quote. What do you make it at? I make of this that as a part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, he is about to hire Clint Kubiak as his head coach. And today, Clint Kubiak is the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. Okay, I think Tom Brady is rooting for the Patriots inside, but he's hiring, he's not hiring Vrabel. No. He's hiring Kubiak. So I don't think he wants to say anything that could get under Kubiak's skin at all. I think there's a

other part to this, too. The last 10 days have been very tough for the Patriots in terms of the Hall of Fame. They've seen Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft bounce. There is an obvious anti-patriot bias that is showing itself here because of things like the Flate Gate and SpyGate and the way they won all the time. And I don't think Tom Brady wants to fan the flames of that by coming out strongly from Patriots. You see, you know, I didn't think of any of those things. Really? I think you've watching too much conspiracy television. But I have that channel. You have that channel. So Brady to me, he doesn't seem like a man driven by sentiment. And he doesn't have a dog in this one because he ain't wearing the jersey.

You know what I mean? Like I think he looks at it with great interest, but I just think that, okay, you know, it was fine. I was there once. You don't think for all the time's sake. He roots for the Patriots. Maybe a little bit. Tony, remember when Brady was living allegedly making a living in New England and playing for the Patriots,

he'd pop up and we see these pictures of him all his off time was in California. You know, professional athletes aren't necessarily like the people who root for their teams. They're doing this. They're paid. They're mercenary. Do you think...

I think Tom Brady falls closer into that. Do you think it's possible? Because Tom Brady, he has to acknowledge that his relationship with the Raiders has caused a lot of people to think in their hearts that he has got a conflict of interest and the broadcasts and have been rules

against... They say it out loud. Right, yeah. And there have been rules against where he can be physically and where it can't be. Do you think that part of this is this is just an easier lane to drive.

Let me stay away from the Patriots. Let me stay away from that. That seems so calculating. I don't want to suggest that Brady isn't calculating, but you know what else Tom Brady can do? Like other goats, like Michael Jeffrey Jordan, like Wayne Gretzky, if he chooses to. He doesn't have to care, right?

Let's take a break. Coming up, how can the Patriots put Drake made in a position to succeed on Sunday? We're going to ask Steve Young. And we'll ask him which ways to leave. I love those helmets. I do, too. I love those.

Like the classic. We don't like newfangled uniforms and anything. We don't like anything new because we're old. We're Muppets. Yeah. We're just too old now. Sources close to the NFL of informed PTI that it's Super Bowl week. No.

Which makes it a perfect time for a visit from our great friend and the man who helped me lead the Niners to victory in Super Bowl 29. All of Fame quarterback Steve Young. Steve, let's start with this. Sam Darnold made a Super Bowl when he was backing up Brock Purdy, and he's now in it as a starter with Seattle. You made two Super Bowls as a backup before starting. What did you learn as a backup that helped you as a starter? A ton.

You seeing it is vital. All of it, right? The hoopla, the unique, getting tickets for your family, making sure everybody has the travel stuff, the elongated week, the media, you watch it. And then if you're a good backup, you're preparing to play. You're ready to go. You know, you're emotionally, physically, mentally ready to go play. So you've done the war.

You've prepared to play in the Super Bowl. And then you got out and maybe you didn't play, but you've seen it. And so that's a huge ad. And then you see someone play great. You're like, oh, no, that's how it's supposed to look. And I'm telling you, when you can sit home at your home, like, Drake May can visualize all he wants. He has not seen it.

But Sam has seen it. And it makes a huge difference. So interesting and good transition to Drake May, Steve, because he's in this. game in his second season. And there's so many things now that we are aware of that are necessary to be in place for a quarterback to be successful. Is Drake may already set up for that or do the Patriots have longer way to go? No, it feels like, you know, this is not the old Patriots.

This is not the hoodie, mumbles, you know, robot kind of, you know, this is, and look, they were great. No, no one was going to say you bad about it. That's how they did it. wide open, fun-loving group. And so they're going to do it differently. And Drake is that guy. He's the guy that's the cheerleader of the team.

So they're young. They don't know yet. Like, oh, right? This is all happening. Like, really? Now? It seems early. And I just, I think that that's in their favor right now.

They don't, they haven't had to deal with, if they get beat, they have to deal with the Super Bowl loss and held that drama. And, you know, if they win, obviously they're on their way. But I just, this is for Drake. they're in a perfect spot to go shock the world. I don't think anyone had them on their card in preseason. That's for sure. And they built their way here.

I think it's real. I think Drake is the guy that I think the key is don't get them out of the game plan. Young players in the Super Bowl, you don't want to give up a big, you know, special teams touchdown, get down by 10 or 14 and get out of your game plan. You want a young quarterback to be able to stay in what we've talked about for a couple of weeks, and that'll be key. given what you know about both these teams having seen them, which way are you leaning? Well, I mean, you love the juggernaut that the Patriots are from nowhere.

And I love that, not from nowhere, but that's really kind of been a fun surprise. The Seahawks have been playing playoff football since January 4th when they play the 49ers for the right to have a week off. And I just, they, watching them in person, it was a revelation. I mean, I've watched them all year, but like in person, they are all of that. That defense is their number one for a reason. And when number one defenses show up at the Super Bowl, it's a thing. And that thing is real. So I would, if I had a choice, I'd run over the Seahawks with that defense.

And then Jackson Smith and Jigba is the most unique, fascinating, amazing player to watch move his body. You just can't imagine. Like it's like Bertrand. I don't know what is. It's like a ballet kind of feel. It's like body, I don't know. I don't know how to describe it. Maybe it is a describable.

But he is all of that. You can throw the ball of that guy and then have those two runners and a good line. I mean, look, you know, you get two Super Bowl teams. Like, which one do you want? Like, that's a stupid bar fight, right? It's a question. But, no, it's a great question, Michael.

It's a great question. But I think I would run to the Seahawks because it's just, I think they're all of that right now. Well, there's something I got to follow up on. As a person who threw the ball to Jerry freaking Rice, you see Jackson, you see him in some sort of way

that is on that level with Jerry Rice? I do. Because the change of direction, Jerry had just an immediate, like an abrupt ability to change direction, but it didn't feel abrupt to him. It looked abrupt to everybody else, someone trying to cover him,

but him it was like nothing. And Jackson Smith and Jim, it feels the same way. It's like he moves his body. body so much quicker than everybody else. And he makes people miss. And he doesn't go to the ground a lot. And that's Jerry, too.

Like it's just, like there's a, they're both kind of a ballet masters. Like they're body position, always in a good spot, catch of the ball, ready to move in a way that's kind of unusually, you know, abrupt. Like I said, abrupt to everybody else. But to them, it seems smooth. It looks smooth. It's like, man, I like, do you think I like him? We will get you out of here on this.

this last night you coached in the Pro Bowl. I watched you introduced. I assumed you coached the NFC, but you told me you coach the AFC. Anyway, it's a flag football game. You used to play in the actual Pro Bowl. How different was it to coach in this format? Well, I mean, we played a real game. You were under duress. I had Bruce Smith coming at me and, you know, and my lineman had 30 minutes twice in two days to get ready to go play. And if you're going to play, if you're going to go play, If we're going to go play a game with a team that's been together for two, 30-minute practices, defense is going to be winning. It's, you know, it gets done faster.

And so in that way, I took the beatings in the Pro Bowl. It was, I remember limping out of the Hula, what was that? Hula Stadium. Aloha Stadium. Aloha Stadium. Aloha Stadium. I remember looking out of it. Like, I've never taken a beating like that in my life.

This would be after the Super Bowl. Those are the days when it was the week after, you go to Hawaii. You go to the Super Bowl, come home for the parade and then head to Hawaii and go and play another game. And so it was, it was pretty unsustainable. I think through time, especially as owners now made $200 billion investments in players. You know, they're going to, you know, you don't want to ski, you don't want to climb, you don't want to go play in the Pro Bowl full speed with the, you know, the guys that's coming after you.

No, that's not going to work. But the flag stuff is real. Everybody needs to get ready for this. Flag football is exploding and it's exploding all the way to the Olympics in 2028. Men and Weber are going to get gold medals. The USA is going to have a team. You hope there's some NFL players on it. And that's what I talked to the guys about yesterday.

Hey, look, this is this is Pro Bowl flag, but you guys got to get ready to go get a gold medal. If I could have gotten a gold medal back in the day, when the dream team was going with Michael Jordan and magic and they're going to go, you know, they're going to get a gold medal and football does it, and hockey does and golf does and baseball does. Like football now can get a gold medal.

It was different yesterday. The guys were more in tune to the flag game. It was a joke, more of a joke before. I think it's becoming very serious about the flag stuff, and it's happening all over the world. It's amazing. Yeah, what a gold medal would mean. Every athlete, golfers want the gold medal, tennis players want the gold medal.

They all want it. I would take a year off of the NFL. I'm not telling them to go, I would. If they force them, they go, I'm taking a year off. I don't care what you do to me. I don't care of it. I want my gold medal. I would do it.

I would give my left arm. Well, I know, I'd give my left arm. I would get my right arm. Right on. You passed with your left arm. What are you nuts? Thank you, Steve. As always, thank you.

Appreciate it. Let's take one last break, still to come, the Jets make a higher, they hope will finally fix their lousy offense. And Kauai is in Lennox. His name to the game that many thought he should have made already. That's black football. We just learned a lot, didn't we? Yes.

Yeah. First of all, I didn't know it was in the Olympics, but a gold medal for any happening. Yeah, yeah, if you can be eligible. Sure, absolutely. Happy time, people. Happy 64th birthday, Dan Plesaq. The left-handed reliever pitched for six different teams in his 18 years in the Plyssack's career record was 65 and 71 with a 364 ERA.

Plesaq made three All-Star teams while pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers, where he spent the first seven years of his career. From there, Plesack went to the Cubs, the Pirates, the Blue Jays, the Diamondbacks, and ultimately ended his career with the Phillies. Plesack is still the Brewer's all-time leader in Saves, and he is quite good on the MLB Network. He is, Tony, he had an edge as a pitcher, but it conveys beautifully to the studio where he is great.

where he is great to watch. He is good. Happy anniversary, Los Angeles Lakers. On this day, 39 years ago, the Showtime Lakers set an NBA defense of record by holding the Sacramento Kings to just four points in the first quarter of their game. The quarter ended up with the Lakers up 40 to 4.

Those four points were the lowest total in any quarter since the introduction of the 24 second clock in 1954. Four points is a shocker, but it's not the record anymore. Amazingly, a decade later, the Lakers held another opponent to a record low when they limited the Dallas Mavericks to just two points in the third quarter of their game and the two points weren't even on a made basket they were two free throws from Derek Harper you know who else is on that team Tony that's pre-Dirk A.C. Green, Sean Bradley, Michael Finley, among others. You think they'd score more than a couple of free? Twos. Yes, you think anybody would. A melancholy trails to Mickey Lollich the longtime Tigers left-hander has passed away at the age of 85. Lollich won two. 217 games in his career and made three All-Star teams. But a standout stretch came in the 1968 World Series.

Denny McLean had won 31 games for the Tigers that season, but Lollich was the ace of the fall classic, throwing three complete game wins over the favorite St. Louis Cardinals. Two of them in elimination games, and the last one of Game 7 on the road on two days' rest over Bob F. Gibson. People who watch us will know that I'm repeating myself, but how can you say that baseball as a product now is as good as that.

The drama for what you just said alone can carry you for a month. It was a great world series. And the people who played in it. Come on. Let's go to the big finish. Let's do it. The Jets hired Frank Reich as offensive coordinator. I know he's your boy.

I know you like it. I know I think Frank Reich is a hell of a coach. I don't know who his quarterback's going to be, but, you know, I root for Frank Reich. The NBA added your boy Kauai to the All-Star game. You're all right with that? Yes, I think you deserve to make it anyway. And it's in their home gym. It is.

It is. That makes sense. The Olympics open with mixed doubles curling today. That excited you? You and I have both gone to see curling. I'm not sure if that's an indictment or not. Miami, Ohio, nipped Buffalo five deuce last night, stayed unbeaten.

I think that's a big deal. It's probably a big deal because there are only two undefeated teams. Like there's Arizona's number one and these guys are number 23. Miami, Ohio, yeah. Close game. Pretty good. Last one, Thunder at Spurs tonight. You intrigued by that?

They've sabotaged it. How? I mean, SGA's injured. It's his arrest. He's out for a couple of weeks. Other than that, I think Wimby's playing. We don't know as a bunch of other doubtfuls and questionables and outs. They've sabotaged the best game of the week.

Nobody wants to play for the playoffs anymore. We're out of time. We're trying to do better the next time. I'm Tony Coronizer. Trade around that. I'm Mike Lovon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.