PTI - Will Jayson Tatum Return This Season?

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Tony Kornheiser and Frank Isola break down possible trade scenarios for the Bucks and Giannis, examine Jayson Tatum’s chances of returning this season after his Achilles tear, and debate whether Diego Pavia’s height is a real concern. 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 Loban Frank. The Bears sweater vest that Mike Dicke used to wear on the sidelines is up for auction. I'm Frank Isola, so when you buy it, you're ever going to take it off?

Let's be honest. I'm in the running. I just vim-molded you. You'll wear that every day. No, special occasions, like Fridays and Monday. Only wear it when they get back to a Super Bowl. That would be, I'm open. We're bullish on the next year.

Huh? I don't know. Rothballs on it. Welcome to PTI. Tony's abandoned you people. So here to co-host is our great friend from the starting lineup on Sirius XM, Mr. Frank I Solo.

Energy levels down. Stay away from my gift and guest, by the way. Let's begin with the ESPN report that the Warriors have called the bucks in an effort to trade for Janus. The dubs have reportedly expressed their willingness to make a substantial offer for the former two-time MVP.

In addition to players, Golden State can offer up to four first-round picks. Frank, what would a deal like this do for each team and for the NBA? Yeah, if you're Milwaukee, you're getting them out of the conference. This one makes sense because of what you talked about for the draft picks. You include Camingas, you get a young player. And really, if you're Milwaukee, if you're trading Janus, you're rebuilding. That's why you heard about the Knicks with Carl Anthony Towns, O'Janobie, McKell Bridges. You're just trying to hold on for dear life if you make that trade.

Now, maybe a three-wick can get that done. But with the Warriors, Steph Curry is still there, 37 years old. That window, what is about two, three years? And it works there. And if you're Milwaukee, Mike, so the picks are 26, 28, 32, and then also 2030, which I think would be top 20 protected. It's another deal that they had with Houston. Those are the picks you're looking at because those are the post-Stef Curry picks.

Right. And that's when you think, that's when the Warriors will fall off a cliff. So that one makes a lot of sense. I'm going to throw another thing in there. I'm looking at this not for Golden State to contend this year. But next year, you notice the name we did not mention so far, Jimmy Butler. If you can get Jimmy back from his current season-long injury, and you have, so you go ahead with the Sunshine Boys,

and you keep Draymond Green, and you have Jimmy, and you have Steph, and you have Janus, by the way, the young. of the worst at that point. If you have those guys, then you maybe look at it something. I don't know that you can hold off this, this bull, this freight train called San Antonio or the defending champs in Oklahoma City or Houston

or Denver and the best player in the league in Joker. But if you have that team in your Golden State, first of all, you are going to be the interest of the league. Everybody's going to pay attention. You're going to want to see them. must see TV if they've got that squad, and I hope they can keep Jimmy Butler. Yeah, and I think what they're trying to do, obviously, is go all in as long as Steph is playing. They feel like they owe it to him.

The only thing would be, how much do you really want to give up for Janus? I understand he's been a two-time MVP. He's a great player. It looks like athletically he's lost a little bit. He's always heard a lot. He's only played more than 67 games once in the last six years. And right now he's at 30. He might get under that number again.

now. And you know what? He's a superstar on a losing team. Okay. And we talked about the playoff record yesterday. He's one in nine and ten to ten playoff games he's played in. I suppose he's with those guys. So now you're not surrounding Janus with dudes. Yonis is still Steph's team. Right? And we've seen Jimmy Butler, if he can be healthy. And by the way, maybe Jimmy, if he doesn't have some wear and tear on that body, he's got one more playoff run in him because he's had several. I think it's worth taking a chance. If you're If you want to go there. What else Yonnas got to do?

Watch out for Miami. They could be involved on some level. You peering Yonis and Mr. Pat Riley, Coach Riles? Why not? Bam out of bayou. Maybe Norman Powell. You trade Talley heroes from Wisconsin, by the way. All right, let's move on.

The Celtics may have to wait longer than they hope to get Jason Tatum back. Chris Haynes, reporter on NBA TV's The Association, that Tatum is out considering sitting out the entire season as he recovers from an Achilles you tore last. May. Tatum told ESPN last night, Mike, that he's yet to make a decision. All right. So, Mike, is this news a big deal, little deal, or no deal? Well, even though it sounds like no deal, because we don't know, it's a big deal. I mean, Jason Tatum, you know, I don't know who's had the most first place votes without

or MVP votes in the top five without winning the last six years. But Jason Tatum's on the short list, right? I keep voting for him. Top five. He's that valuable. He's that greater player. He's that great a teammate. He means. He means. that much to the Boston Celtics. And if Tatum is weighing this, he's taking it seriously. So he's basically saying, this team is playing pretty well without me. Do I want to interrupt this? It's so unselfish, by the way.

People who know Jason Tatum, is everything to like about him. The one thing I wonder is, are they going to play with two guys making that much money, $300 million, $3 million, Tatum and Brown? Or if he doesn't come back this year, are you going to see one of them traded over the summer and then they're never going to play. I think it's worth wondering. I'm not projecting.

But there's been that talk the moment those guys signed those contracts. So I just wonder. I just want to see Tatum back, but not at risk to himself. So this has been going on for nearly six weeks, two months now. You saw him practice one day, didn't you? Absolutely, that he's out there working out. Everything seems to be all systems go. And that out of nowhere, here comes this idea that he makes it out

the rest of the regular season. I heard he did not have any type of physical setback. It's not a mental thing that he feels he needs to get over. He's kind of looking at, well, how would I fit in? You fit in because you're Jason Tatum. And guess what? When you first come back, you're not going to be very good. It happens to every guy that suffers a major injury. It's been eight months since it happened. You figure if he does come back, it'll be March. It's 10 months. And he thinks of himself. He loved Kobe Bryant. He knows that Kobe Bryant's mentality would be get back as quickly as I can. So he wants to do that. The Celtics looked at this year.

Everybody up in Boston, they call it it was going to be a gap year. Right now, they're 29 and 18. So they're right there. They can win the East? They can. Why wouldn't he come back? And I get the idea that Jaylen Brown is having this unbelievable season. People are talking about him being the MVP race.

Peyton Pritchard's been great. Derek White. But come back and maybe start out coming off the bench. Imagine getting Jason Dayton for 20 minutes a night for maybe 10 games. More than one thing can be true. I hear the case you're making. It's the Kobe Bryant case It's if we were sitting around talking

Or if Kobe was talking to Jason Tatum This is exactly the case he'd make But there's something to admire to me about Tatum Saying hold on I don't want to come in and disrupt That level of unselfishness Is something you don't often see out of truly great players Of which Tatum is

The only thing I would say, and we saw this with Derek Rose Derek Rose when he was rehabbing kept coming out before games and working out The fans were saying, oh my God Well if you can do that, why can't you play? The expectations go crazy. Yeah, so Jason Tatum's been, and I think you just said the key word, expectations. I think he wants to lower the expectations a little bit.

Exactly, because he knows right away he's not going to be that good. Eventually, he'll go back to being Jason Tatum. Yeah. I know. This is a tough one. This is hard. Now to college football and Diego Pavia's height. Vanderbiltz quarterback measured at 5 foot 9 and 7 8th at the senior bowl this week,

well below the six feet that Vandy, had listed him. That would make Pavia the shortest quarterback drafted in the modern era. Despite all that, the SEC player of the year and Heisman finalist says he's 100% confident. He will be drafted. Frank, are you? I do think he's going to be drafted. To put into context, Sam Darnal 6-3, Drake May 6-4. But there are guys in the NFL, Kyle Murray, Bryce Young, 5'10, and then Russell Wilson was 5-11. Drew Brees, six feet tall. guys on the end of that list. Yeah.

And this is where he's got it right here in his heart. This guy was a winner. It does look like that. He went to Vanderbilt and won 10 games. So I get it, how he's going to measure. And we saw this. You would know this better than anybody with Doug Flutie back in the day. Is he going to be a starting quarterback right away?

Probably not. Could it be a situational quarterback? Could he be a Tassum Hill like they do in New Orleans? He threw for 29 touchdowns. He ran for 10. And when you're that height, And you perform at that level, you're a Heisman Trophy finalist. It tells you you're tough physically, mentally, and you got all the confidence in the world.

But it's still not just on you. You've got to have a coach who's imaginative, right? Bold, a guy was willing to be fired to construct or bring in someone who will bring in an offense who can take advantage of your skills. I don't see that NFL right now. So you don't think he's going to get drafted? Oh, I think he's going to get drafted. Yeah. I just worry that he's not going to get to a place where he's going to have the kind of bold coach you need to have.

What was the coach of the greatest show on turf? Mike Martz. Yeah. Right? Even though Martz had a tall 6 foot 4 inch at least Kurt Warner. But I think of a guy like Mark. A guy with that kind of boldness who will say, give me that kid, I'll work with him. All right.

You said bold, and I don't want you to yell at me. What? What about Sean Payton on Denver? No. He had that quarterback he did in New Orleans Because he had Russ and he badmouthed him

a guy with what should be two Super Bowl rings and he ran him out of Denver And how did it work out? They made the AFC championship What about Ben Johnson Chicago? We got a guy

I get it. Situational quarterback. No. Everyone needs a good backup Mike. We got a good backup too. We got a good backup. I'm going to see if you know

who he is during the break. All right, let's go. We're taking a break now. But when we've come back. Mike Alibati Donald's his face. A ton of pressure to perform heading into the Super Bowl. We're going to ask Steve Young how he handled pressure.

We're also going to ask him how important it was for him to become a first ballot Hall of Fame. Everyone is still arguing about this. It's like, come on, get off it. Stop. Stop. He should have gone in. Now the world is not going to end. Tyson.

Bayesian. Very good. Very good. We've got football questions for our great friend who's lengthy list. Lengthy list of accomplishments, Kornhizer always insinuates himself into. Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young. Steve has always, thanks for joining us.

We're going to start with the Patriots and Drake May because he would be listed as a limited participant if they had actually had a full practice due to a banged-up throwing shoulder. Now, he's got the extra week, Steve. Is the extra week going to do that much? When you hear him listed this way and think of what this feels like, what's your make of it? it's amazing, Michael, over the years.

I was just talking to Christian McCaffrey a minute ago about injuries and like playing six days instead of seven when you're rushed into a playoff game or something. That extra day they feel. You get used to a pattern and your body gets used to a pattern. And so when you get extra time, it makes all the difference, even an extra day, let alone an extra week. You need the extra week in the Super Bowl because you've got to take care of everyone

who wants tickets. You've got to take care of all the media that's twice as much as not. to take care of all that crap. And so that way you can dig, if you didn't have two weeks for the Super Bowl back in the day when they had one week, it was totally not fair, especially for your body, right? Everyone can get healthy, not everyone, but a lot of NFL players are used to seven-day kind of health cycles, get an extra week. They can get super healthy for the Super Bowl.

Yeah, Sam Donald could use that extra week as well. He's going to face a lot of pressure to deliver in this game, Steve. How much weight did you feel to perform when you prepared to face the charges in Super Bowl 29, And how did you handle it? That makes me laugh because, look, I know Sam, if he loses, what they've done this year, they're not going to throw him out of Seattle. They'll go and get to embrace them and say, look, we can't wait for you to be here another 10 years. If I would have lost, they would, I would have been like, I always say,

it's like, you know, you hit the Bay Bridge and you're like on 80, you get Pinol and then the Nut Tree and Vallejo and then Sacramento, then Reno, and then you're gone, bro. Don't come back. Don't come back unless you're. you win this football game. So, yeah, it was all that that morning when I was over my, my cereal. If you keep heading on 80, you're going to eventually hit the George Washington Bridge.

You perform pretty well. I basically remember six touchdown passes. Yeah, I remember those two. It's pretty good. All right, you're an NFC West guy. Can you explain what stands out when you've watched the Seahawks this year? Well, first of all, that the transition, these young players that they've got on defense and what Mike's, coach McDonald's done, for them. They have that amoeba feeling, like it's all connected, and they're all,

and they all have speed. There's, what was it, five guys ran over 20 miles an hour in the season this year. So it's like they have speed, they're connected, they play that kind of smothering defense, zone defense, and they can bring the heat with four guys. It is the ultimate weapon in the NFL today. When you can bring heat with four guys, play that smothering defense, and have great speed. They are, and I think they're just figuring out how good they are. I I think it took them, you know, three or four months to figure out just really how good they are, and they are that good. And now that they figured it out, I think they get more dangerous. I think that's what's, to me, that's the biggest thing about the Super Bowl is that we haven't seen the best of the Seattle Seahawks by far.

We got to go into the topic of the week a little bit. Bill Belichick and Hall of Fame. And I'm going to introduce this by saying, I used to vote for 10 years, Steve. I would have voted for Bill Belichick, but I don't remember. first ballot being that big a deal all those years. But I'm going to ask you, was it a big deal for you to hold first ballot notion? And when you think about that vis-a-vis Belichick, what are your thoughts? I will tell you, being a first ballot Hall of Famer, you know, at quarterback. I mean, I even looked it up, but I think there's 14 in history, you know, it's like,

it's, I think it has its own meaning. It doesn't take away from anyone who's in the Hall of Fame because it's amazing. It's insanity that anyone played. enough football and impress enough people to think that that was okay that you and you deserve to be there. So it's tremendous honor. But I think the first ballot is something. And yeah, but I mean, look, is it everything? No. And it is oddity. I mean, how to, if you told me five years ago, Bill Belichick won't go in the hall of fame on the first ballot, be like, what did he do? What happened? So SpyGate and that stuff wouldn't have bothered you if you were sitting in that room and deflategate. Yeah, I'm sure that was the conversation.

I'm sure that people can get overwrought about it, which is fair. But I think how I would have, if they had gotten an argument about it, I would say, look, no matter how much you weight you want to put on that, he put that away and then one on and won four more Super Bowls. And so I'm a huge second chance kind of guy. I think that's America. Like we, people get second chances. They take advantage of it. And so I'm not saying it was a second. I'm not saying it's the perfect metaphor.

But as far as he qualified, put all that away. And then what did he do since then? Going four more Super Bowls on, you know, in the pure fact. So it's like I could have easily allowed for the mistakes and the foibles with what was accomplished. So, you know, hard to, you know, look, you'd be an argument about it. but it seems easy for me. By the way, who was in your Hall of Fame class? The only living member of my Hall of Fame class was Dan Daniel Marino.

Wow. A good one. That's pretty good. So the two of us went in together. And I don't have enough time, but my senior year, high school, recruiting trip to Army at West Point, sitting on the sidelines watching a young freshman pit quarterback, Dan Marino, throw a 30-yard laser that went right in front of me, like, soom. And I remember thinking, I'm a senior in high school.

I'm like, I might not be able to play. Turns out you were just fine. And all those years later, we went in the Hall of Fame together, and it's just full circle, you know, so pretty cool. But Dan was one of one. Steve, thank you much. We appreciate it. Thanks, Steve.

Great way to go out. We're going to take one last break. But still to come, LeBron gets emotional as the Cavs paid tribute last night in Cleveland. And Benfica needed a miracle to play on in the Champions League and got one from an unlikely source. It's pretty good. That was a good story. Dan Marino and Steve Yon. It's pretty good.

Yeah. Nobody delayed their entry. That didn't get delayed. That would get you canceled. Time to get happy people. 19th birthday, AJ DeBanza. The BYU freshman is averaging 24.7 boards, four assists for 13th rank Coogs. DeBanza has delivered some performances that make him appear to be the most pro-ready

player in all the college basketball. Through Monday, or though Monday night, against number one Arizona, he was at six of 24 from the floor, one of eight from three, Frank. Now, DeBancor and the Coogs face number 14, Kansas, and their star freshman, Darren Peterson Saturday. The two are currently won two, and ESP is the most recent mock draft. Terrific players. How about Caleb

Wilson from North Carolina? Got a little Kevin Barnett, and DeBanza is from the same town in Boston as Marvin Hagler. He looks different. And Rocky Marciano. How about that? Happy anniversary Novak Djokovic. On this day, three years ago, Joker

won the Australian Open for the 10th time beating Stefano's Titipas in three sets. That was the last time Joker won in Melbourne. Yonik's center took the last two. Joker and Center face each other tonight in the semis, that's sort of overnight. And Carlos Alcaraz faces Alexander Zverif in the other semi.

Joker says of the recent dominance by Center and Alcaraz, quote, are they better right now than me and all the other guys? Yes, they are. But does that mean that I walk out with a white flag? No, close quote. I love that. He needs one more. to get 25, which is one more than Margaret Court.

If he's able to do that, amazing. Amazing. And this tournament? It would be. That'd be an amazing accomplishment. He's not here to object. He's got to play great, and he needs a little luck to.

He's played great tonight. Happy Trails to Champions League elimination for Benfica. The Portuguese club needed a goal in stoppage time against Real Madrid to qualify for the knockout phase of Champions League. Benfica coach Jose Marino sent his six-foot-six goalkeeper. Anatoly Trubin into the pack for a set piece, and Trubin heads it home in the 98th minute to advance Benfica on goal differential.

Frank, I know you must have gone nuts. It was crazy. Real Madrid got two players sent off. Somebody's got to mark the goalie, especially the biggest guy out there. Six, six. So Josie Marino calls himself the special one. It was great. During the celebration, he grabbed one of the ball boys, put his arm around and they were celebrating with the crowd.

Really cool moment. That's a pretty good moment. Yeah. What drama? We're running out of show. Let's go to the big finish. The Spur beat the Rockets last night. Is that significant?

It's kind of your team now. They were down 16 in this game. We were all the way back to the Olympic win. Really good win. LeBron got emotional during a Cab's tribute to him last night. Your thoughts? I got emotional. I don't want to see LeBron retire.

I understand it may be time, but it could be his last game in Cleveland. Just not ready for that. Josh Allen had surgery for a broken bone in his right foot. Is that a big deal? Yes, it's a big deal. Josh Allen uses his feet. The good thing he doesn't have to play again until next September. The Aussie Open Women's final will be Rebecca and Sabalinka.

Your reaction? It's hard to pick against Sabalinka right now or these last years. How good did you look today? Jess Pagoola was the last American. Last American and gone. Sabalinka. Last one. Crystal Dunn retired from the U.S. women's national team.

How are you going to remember her career? She's a New Yorker, Mike. I actually saw her play. as a youth player, and I saw her play in North Carolina. She was terrific. Won a World Cup, won an Olympic gold medal, terrific career. New Yorkers can't stay home and play soccer? They got to go to the Carolinas.

She's kind of a big program. All right. That's how they take all the best from New York. Right of time. Thanks for watching. I'm Frank Isol. And I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.