transcript
Speaker 1:
[00:00] For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves. Loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent, where money means more. Connect with us at thrivent.com.
Speaker 2:
[00:31] Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon, Tony in an apartment in Monaco. Just sold for $554 million.
Speaker 3:
[00:40] I'm Tony Kornheiser. I don't get there often, but I'm hoping to Airbnb it. What do you think?
Speaker 2:
[00:45] That's good.
Speaker 3:
[00:46] What do you think?
Speaker 2:
[00:46] Yeah, yeah, that'll work. Yeah. I'd be one of your clients.
Speaker 3:
[00:52] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[00:52] I expect a break of discount, though.
Speaker 3:
[00:55] Oh, yeah. I'd give it to you for like $65,000 an evening. Yeah, because I got to make back all this money. That's a lot of money there. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, the Lakers win again, the Celtics lose, and Booger McFarland joins us to preview tomorrow's first round of the NFL Draft. But we begin today with Victor Wemba Nyama sustaining a concussion last night in the second quarter of San Antonio's eventual home loss to Portland, when he fell under the basket and hit his head on the floor. Wemba Nyama left the game and did not return. Under the conditions of the NBA concussion protocol, Wemba Nyama could be eligible to play game three in Portland on Friday. Wilbon, what could Wemba Nyama's concussion mean for him, for the Spurs and for the NBA?
Speaker 2:
[01:41] Tony, you know, there's a worst-case scenario where he misses so much time in this series that San Antonio is so adversely affected, they don't advance, and you're missing the most, I don't know, seductive character in the NBA today and world basketball today, and maybe all the sport in Victor Wemba Nyama, and you don't get to see that all spring, and that would mean doom for the team, the league, the network, partners, everybody who wants to see this kid, this phenom. So that's the worst-case scenario. I don't see any way, we don't know yet, I don't see any way he plays on Friday in Portland. We don't even know if he can fly there, if he'd be allowed. Sunday in Portland, don't know. But San Antonio's got to rely on other players, they don't have much of the way of vets. They got De'Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes, and away we go, a bunch of youngsters who could be shaky in a situation where they go to Portland, which is a particularly difficult place to play. And they gotta win a game, they gotta come back 2-2, they can't afford to go back to San Antonio down 3-1. So it could mean all those things, but wow. I mean, it was a jolt to watch it last night, and you just hope the victim, when Van Yama feels okay, and recovers as quickly as possible.
Speaker 3:
[02:58] I'm a doctor, as you know, but not that kind of doctor, so I'm gonna resist making any medical analysis here. I have read what has been printed about the protocol in the NBA, and it is possible that he could play in 72 hours, because the restriction is 48 hours. They say that you have to sit quietly, not do anything for 24 hours. Then you can be examined, you can be given light things to do. That's the 48 hour window, but there's no restriction after that if you are judged to be making progress. So it's conceivable to me, by the letter of the law, that he could play. But like you, I don't think he's going to play. I think people are going to be cautious, and I think they should be cautious. The important thing here is his long-term health, as it is with any concussion victim at that point. And Mike, we have seen in football, I won't go too long here, I will say two things. One is that San Antonio had a 2-1 edge in the regular season on Portland this year, and Wemba Nyama didn't play in any of those games. So they can beat Portland without Wemba Nyama. The second thing is we have seen in football, people come back from concussions on a regular basis, without a diminution of skill at all. We accept this in football. Basketball, we don't associate the word concussion with basketball. So it's a little more scary, I believe, because it happened in basketball. And again, what you worry most with Wemba Nyama is he's physically different than everybody else. How do you keep him healthy? So I think they'll be very cautious in this. I agree with you.
Speaker 2:
[04:29] I don't, I do too. I agree with you. But he's not gonna get hit as many times as a running back or a wide receiver or a tight end or a lineman coming back from a concussion. So Tony, I'm hopeful, but that's cautiously hopeful.
Speaker 3:
[04:43] Right. It could just be an asterisk on his career. That's all it could be. An asterisk at the end of his career. This happened. Didn't matter.
Speaker 2:
[04:52] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[04:52] Possible.
Speaker 2:
[04:53] Let's hope that that's it. Yeah. We did have other NBA playoff games of note last night. The Lakers are now up 2-0 on the Rockets, despite the absences of Luka Doncic and Austin Reeves. Lebron was out there reverse dunking on folk, and Marcus Smart had 25. In the East, 6ers rookie VJ Edgecomb dropped 30, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had one wink on the Celtics, offered them one to even that series at one game apiece. Tom, which result was the bigger deal?
Speaker 3:
[05:25] I think most people are going to say it's Philadelphia beating Boston. They beat Boston in Boston by 14 points without Joel Embiid. I think people will say that. And it's such a reversal from the first game, the last game that they played with the exact same conditions in Boston won by 32. But I'm going the other way, Mike. I'm going to say it's the Lakers beating the Rockets. I know in the first game, they beat the Rockets without Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant was back for this game. He had 20 points in the first quarter. He shot six for seven, 20 points in the first half, rather. He shot six for seven. He had a lousy second half, but he had 20 in the first half and the Lakers won anyway. I didn't think the Lakers were going to beat the Rockets without Kevin Durant, so I certainly didn't think they were going to beat the Rockets with Kevin Durant. You know, I mean, they don't have Luke Kudonchich and they don't have Austin Reeves. That's 57 points. That's just gone. To me, this is a big deal, and I will give you a small little factoid that you're going to love. This is the 25th time in LeBron James' career that a team that he has been on in the playoffs has gone up to nothing. They're 24 and 0 in the previous time. So this augurs well for the Lakers.
Speaker 2:
[06:37] Tony, I agree with you. I'm not going to say the Celtics, who going back now, this entire sort of regime with Tatum and Brown and this cast, I know it's evolved and changed, they throw in a clunker, and the clunkers directly related to missed three-pointers, wildly missed three-pointers, a great volume of missed three-pointers. They do this basically every series, but they win a lot of series. Now, they didn't win it against the Knicks last year, but I'm not going there. I think they will beat Philadelphia. I don't think Philadelphia can sustain this, you know, and they're not going to have Joe LMB out there. Doesn't sound like. So I'm going with you with the Lakers, to be up two-nothing on Houston. The Rockets are the biggest disappointment through a couple of games of the playoffs. They made no adjustments defensively. They realize that Kevin Durant is coming back. He might lose some steam in the second half, which he did. You mentioned only three points. I don't want to blame Durant for that. The Houston's got other capable players, but management failed them. They didn't go out and get a point guard after Fred Van Vliet was injured for months and months. Coming into the season, they didn't go out and get a guy like Atlanta did. Go out and get a veteran point guard to help Kevin Durant. So Houston is just, I'm ready to dismiss them. Get off the stage, good for the Lakers, bigger deal to me too.
Speaker 3:
[08:03] Luke Kennard, 50 points in two games. Probably have to go back to Duke to see him do that. I know what happened in the NBA, but Duke's a better line. Let's move to baseball and the ongoing misery of the New York Mets. The Mets took a three nothing lead against the Twins in the third inning last night on a Francisco Lindor home run. Then they saw the Twins chip away at that lead on the sixth and the seventh on Nolan McClain, who had been perfect through five. In the top of the ninth, the Twins loaded the bases on Devon Williams, got two runs in on a single and a bases loaded walk, and the Mets then lost their 12th in a row. The last time they lost 12 in a row was 2002. Wilbon, is it too soon to have concerns about the Mets season?
Speaker 2:
[08:42] I'll let you, I'll leave the forecast of the Mets to the New Yorker, for whom the Mets were once important. So I'll leave that to you. I am thrilled. I am thrilled to be here in New York, and I am always thrilled to be here in New York. I am even happier that the Mets are a miserable pile of goo while I am here in New York, and I can hear and see all the hand-wringing and hear all the whining. It's great that they spent this much money. Because since 1969, when I was 10 years old that summer, I have hated the New York Mets. So I couldn't be happier. I hope the losing streak reaches 30 games, all right? They may turn it around. I don't know, but to spend this much money and get nothing for like the second time in three years, all the analytics applied, all the money spent, I am just wildly delirious about the Mets' misery. I'll let you take it away.
Speaker 3:
[09:37] Let me unload my baggage here. The Mets were the team of my youth, that is true. I was there in 1969 when they went into first place for the first time at Chase Stadium. They went into first place for the first time in the franchise history. I loved the Mets, past 10s. Notice the past 10s. By the way, in 2002 when they lost 12 in a row, you know what else happened in 2002? The Jets won, I believe, the AFC East. So that's eons ago. That's a while ago. Let me get right to the issue. Should you have concerns right now? You can say no, because it's 139 games to go. And a lot can happen. And you can look at their division, where the best team in their division, the Philadelphia Phillies, are just as bad as they are. The Phillies are 8-15, and the Mets are 7-16. But, and there's always a but, last year in June, the Mets had a record middle of June, 45-24, the best in all of Major League Baseball. The best. Since then, the Mets are 45-71. That stinks. That's what we call Nats Land at my house. And by the way, no team has ever lost 12 in a row in a single season and made the playoffs. 138 teams. None of them has done this. Let's take a break. Coming up, who are the best players available in tomorrow's NFL Draft? We're gonna ask Booger McFarland.
Speaker 2:
[10:53] We'll also ask him to assess the overall quality of the draft field. Why did you drop the Mets in favor of the Nationals? I would never drop the Cubs in favor of anybody.
Speaker 3:
[11:04] Well, that's you. You're you and I'm me. I am stunned that that guy is still managing the Mets today. I'm stunned. He might not be out today. He might not be and the GM's got to go too.
Speaker 1:
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Speaker 4:
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Speaker 3:
[12:22] The NFL Draft begins tomorrow, which makes it a perfect time for a visit from our great friend, a man who will be analyzing the picks on this very network, ESPN, NFL, and college football analyst, Booger McFarland. Booger, we're gonna start with this. Wilbon, who has been studying mock drafts for months, as you know, says the overall quality of this draft has been questioned. You get paid to do this. Is that how you see it? Is Wilbon right?
Speaker 5:
[12:51] Yeah, you know, Mike is kind of looking at it from the treetops like a lot of people, because they kind of look at the quarterback position as the barometer if the draft is any good. If you got a lot of quarterbacks, man, it's going to be a great draft. If you only have one or two quarterbacks, maybe the draft is lacking in talent. Here's what I'll say, there's only one quarterback that's a surefire first-rounder. That's Fernando Mendoza. There's not a lot of star power. You got Jeremiah Love, who's the running back from Notre Dame. You got the Edge Rusher from Ohio State RVL Reese. You got David Bailey. But as far as like the bona fide star guys that you could say, you know what, in three or four years, these guys are going to be first-team all-pro and have Hall of Fame potential. It's not many guys like that. So I understand where Michael is coming from as he's combing through all these draft guys that he's doing, Tony.
Speaker 2:
[13:39] You mentioned Jeremiah Love, Booger. So let's go straight to him. You said he's the best player in the draft. And if so, how many teams can afford to pass on him? What is it that makes him so special to you?
Speaker 5:
[13:55] Well, I think if you were the Raiders and you hadn't taken Ashton Gentry last year, maybe you would be so inclined to take Jeremiah Love this year. But since they took the running back number six overall last year, they're going to take the quarterback this year. What makes him so special is this, he's two players in one. When you look at basketball, you want guys who are two-way players. They can play offense or defense, and they don't specialize. He is a running back and a receiver. You put him at running back, and you think about the guys like Asequon Barkley, like Christian McCaffrey, like Jameer Gibbs. Like he's that type of running back that can be explosive. You put him at receiver, he kind of looks like Jamar Chase out there at receiver, especially when he gets the ball in his hands. So you're getting two players in one. You're getting a guy, Mike, think about this. As you watch football, you've been watching your Bears all these years. How many times when you watch a game, have you seen a player that can go 90 yards? You know, there are a lot of guys that break a lot of long runs, make a lot of big plays, but they always get caught. This dude, Jeremiah Love, has legitimate 90-yard speed. Think about the play Notre Dame versus Indiana. He went 98 yards. Like he's got a ton of runs over 40 yards. He is speed personified. I think he's the best player in the draft. And other than the Las Vegas Raiders, I wouldn't pass on him.
Speaker 2:
[15:09] Man, I wish my boys had a shot at him, but we don't. We're going to have to do some line play. And I want to ask you about the defensive side, whether it's rush edge rusher or defensive tackle, who are the guys that stand out to you that tomorrow, early in the draft, particularly, well, it will be early in the draft, we should pay the most attention to?
Speaker 5:
[15:32] Well, I think it's that debate that's going to happen for the New York Jets at number two. Do you want the bird in the hand? A guy like David Bailey, 14.5 sacks last year, he did it at Texas Tech, he did it at Stanford, we've seen him rush to passer, that's the bird in the hand. Or do you want the two in the bush? And that's Arville Reese, because the potential is sky high. I'm talking about a guy who's 6'4, 250 pounds, think about this, Mike, he ran faster than some wide outs at the NFL combine, and he's 250 pounds, but he's not a refined pass rusher, so you're betting on the upside. I don't know about you, I want the bird in the hand. I'll take the thing that's for sure now, I don't count on the two in the bush, because as I've learned over the years, when you go out there in the bush, those two might just fly away. So I'm going to take the bird in the hand, and I'm going to take David Bailey, he would be my pick at number two if I were the Jets.
Speaker 3:
[16:24] Let me just say this before we get you out of here. If it's the Jets, they'll do it wrong, they'll do it wrong. All right, last question, you mentioned Mendoza. I have no faith in the Jets. All right, you mentioned Mendoza, he's going to be the number one pick we assume. Who is the next best quarterback? And people mention Ty Simpson, would you take him in the first round, or will Mendoza be the only first round quarterback?
Speaker 5:
[16:52] For me, it will be Mendoza as the only first round quarterback. I think that there's a bunch of quarterbacks in that next group. Ty Simpson, he's only got 15 starts. And when you have a quarterback with that few starts, now we're talking about when you look at Anthony Richardson, players that played like that, you and Mitch Trabisky, guys that have few starts that didn't translate to the National Football League, then you throw in Drew Aller from Penn State. The guy for me, and everybody's going to say I'm a homer, rightfully so, I like Garrett Nussmaier, because I go back to 2024 when he was fully healthy, and he did the one thing that you have to do at the quarterback position. You have to throw the football before the receiver is open. You have to anticipate, Tony, and the best anticipatory thrower in this draft is Garrett Nussmaier. Well, people will say, what happened in 2025? Well, guess what? LSU was terrible. He was hurt. We fired Brian Kelly, and we move on. But I think when Garrett Nussmaier was healthy, he was a quarterback that was getting first round talk. He's not going to go in the first round this year. He may not go in the second round. But when he's picked, I think his pedigree, Doug Nussmaier, his dad, the offensive coordinator for the Saints. You have all that coaching lineage in his background. He's going to be a really, really good quarterback. If I couldn't take Fernando Mendoza for Booger, I would take Garrett Nussmaier, and I would really feel comfortable about him being my quarterback.
Speaker 3:
[18:11] Thank you, Booger. I haven't seen you in a while. Thank you, Booger.
Speaker 2:
[18:14] Appreciate it, man.
Speaker 3:
[18:15] So good to see you. Yes, thank you.
Speaker 5:
[18:18] It's great to see you guys. Mike, you haven't grown an ounce of hair. Tony, I think you lost some.
Speaker 2:
[18:25] Right on both counts.
Speaker 3:
[18:25] NFL Draft Countdown begins tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Eastern. Let's take one last break. Still to come, some wild highlights from last night's Stanley Cup playoff action.
Speaker 2:
[18:35] And the Pistons have a big one tonight against Orlando.
Speaker 6:
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Speaker 7:
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Speaker 3:
[20:08] Happy time, people, happy 65th birthday, Jeff Hostedler. Hostedler's shining moment was as the Super Bowl winning quarterback for the New York football Giants in January 1991, when the Giants beat Buffalo 2019 in the wide right game. Hostedler was playing because incumbent Giants quarterback Phil Sims was out with a broken foot. Hostedler started two regular season games and the three playoff games after Sims went out. Hostedler had been drafted by the Giants in the third round of West Virginia in 1984 and backed up Sims. After the Giants, Hostedler played four seasons for the Raiders and one for Washington. In all, Hostedler started 83 NFL games, mostly for the Raiders, and he went 51 and 32.
Speaker 2:
[20:51] That's a pretty darn good record as a starter, Tony. I saw Hostedler play against Maryland and Boomer Asayasen and maybe Frank Reich at least once, but I'm thinking I might have seen him at West Virginia a couple of times. That's a nice pro career he wound up having.
Speaker 1:
[21:07] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[21:09] Happy anniversary, Carl Malone. On this day, 26 years ago, the mailman became the oldest player in NBA history. 36 years, 273 days to score 50 points or more in a playoff game when he dropped 50 on Seattle in game one of their series. Malone and John Stockton played a million playoff games for Utah, but never won the final one. LeBron James, now 41, is playing in his 19th postseason, tying him with Malone and Stockton for the most in league history. LeBron's first season was Malone's last season. Malone played against both LeBron and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and those three players spanned 57 of the NBA's 77 years of existence.
Speaker 2:
[21:50] When he retired, Tony, Carl Malone invited the great David Dupree and me to come down to Louisiana and join him in retirement for hunting and fishing. And then he had the line, he added the line that sort of prevented that trip, and he said, listen, can't wait to have you guys bring some clothes, you can get some blood on. Carl, thank you very much. We're going to just sort of pass on that one.
Speaker 3:
[22:11] We'll pass, pass on that. Happy trails to a pane of glass in the Kings-Avs game. A penalty shot saved by avalanche goalie Scott Wedgwood in the second period of last night's game, led a Colorado fan to pound the glass behind the Kings bench. The pane then shattered and poured down on Kings coach DJ Smith. Smith was okay, but the game was stopped for 19 minutes. The fan was moved, but not found to have done anything worthy of ejection. The Avalanche won in OT to take a 2-0 series lead. In other games last night, the Golden Knights lost in regulation for the first time under torts. The Bruins beat the Savers and the Lightning, even their series with the Canadians, in a game that featured a huge right hook from Brandon Hagel to the jaw of Yuri Slavkovsky. With Hagel then giving the night-night gesture from the penalty box.
Speaker 2:
[22:59] Now, you can't go night-night. The guy was up at the count of, like, one and a half. Just let it go.
Speaker 3:
[23:07] You don't see the glass do that. That's very odd to see, by the way. Let's go to the big finish. Let's stay with hockey. Ducks, the Oilers, game two tonight. Do you like the Oilers again?
Speaker 2:
[23:17] No, the Oilers can never do anything the easy way. No, that series is gonna be tied at one most likely. I'm rooting for the Oilers. Philly's put JT Real Mudo on the IO with a lower back injury. Is that significant?
Speaker 3:
[23:29] Yeah, he's a terrific catcher, usually a clutch hitter, and they've lost seven in a row. The Padres are tied with the Dodgers. Atop the NL West, they signed Lucas Gialito today, Kenny Elf.
Speaker 2:
[23:39] Lieutenant Ford with a 3-4-1 for the Red Sox last year. I would hope so. Dodgers, Padres, best rivalry in baseball now. Best. Shohei is on the mound against the Giants tonight. Are you intrigued?
Speaker 3:
[23:52] Of course, I'm intrigued, but the game, you know, why can't that game start at 645 in the East instead of 945 or 10? Come on. Last one, Magic Pistons, Sun's Thunder tonight. Who you got?
Speaker 2:
[24:04] The Pistons will bounce back in the Thunder, I believe, will stay undefeated despite the peskyness of the Suns.
Speaker 3:
[24:11] I'd go with both of them. We are out of time. We will try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
Speaker 2:
[24:16] I'm Mike Wilbon. We're bumped by the draft until Monday, knuckleheads. And now, Kenny, Charles, Jack and Ernie, NBA tip-off.
Speaker 3:
[24:25] Changing your life. You love the draft. ESPN, all in one place, sign up or activate now.