Nico Harrison Fired from the Mavericks!

Summary

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Podcast Summary: PTI — "Nico Harrison Fired from the Mavericks!"

Date: November 11, 2025
Hosts: Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon
Guest: Jeff Saturday (ESPN NFL Analyst)

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Overview

In this episode of Pardon The Interruption, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon tackle the day's top sports stories with their trademark rapid-fire banter. The main theme centers on the Dallas Mavericks’ dramatic decision to fire General Manager Nico Harrison after a string of poor results, culminating in a “worst trade ever.” The hosts also break down NFL action, the fallout from LSU's attempt to fire Brian Kelly with cause, and examine several key figures and moments around sports, with additional insight from Jeff Saturday.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. NFL: Eagles vs. Packers – Evidence of Parity and Mediocrity

[01:07–04:42]

• The Eagles edged the Packers 10–7 in a Monday night defensive struggle.
• Both hosts agree that there are currently no great teams in the NFL, despite the Eagles’ winning streak and the recent hype for Buffalo and Detroit.
• Green Bay’s offensive woes—just 20 points and two touchdowns in the last two games, both at Lambeau—were highlighted.
  • Tony Kornheiser [02:50]: “Jordan Love in those two games has no touchdown passes and one interception ... he seems to be just sort of spinning in place.”
  • Mike Wilbon [02:11]: “We can stop with the ‘Love is MVP’ nonsense ... they can stop you, but they can’t score, which is weird for a Green Bay team.”
• The Eagles are defined more by dependability and ball security than by greatness, leading the league with just four turnovers. The hosts question Coach Sirianni’s aggressive fourth-down decision-making.

2. Main Story: Mavericks Fire GM Nico Harrison After Luka-AD Trade

[04:58–08:13]

• The Mavericks' firing of GM Nico Harrison is dissected, with a focus on the fallout from his controversial trade sending Luka Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis.
  • Tony Kornheiser [05:33]: “It should have happened a long time ago. It’s late, OK? That’s the worst trade I have ever seen in my life.”
  • Mike Wilbon [06:07]: “Luka’s team without LeBron playing a minute is eight and three ... Dallas’ team is three and eight ... people have stopped going.”
• The hosts note the rare public animosity toward a GM (“Where have you ever seen a hometown crowd chant for the firing of a GM?” – [05:43])
• Both raise the point that ownership, not just Nico, should shoulder the blame, with Mark Cuban specifically being called out:
  • Mike Wilbon [08:03]: “I just don’t want to hear Nico being here. Where’s the owner? ... You’re the billionaire. ... Take some blame.”

Notable Quote:

"That trade hangs over that team and that building like a curtain."
— Tony Kornheiser [07:55]

3. LSU’s Attempt to Fire Brian Kelly With Cause

[08:17–10:33]

• LSU’s legal wrangling to avoid paying Brian Kelly’s $54 million buyout is met with incredulity.
  • Mike Wilbon [08:44]: “It’s either somewhere between disingenuous and a flat-out lie. They got rid of him because he wasn’t winning enough ... anything else, by letter or not, is a lie.”
• Tony questions what “cause” could possibly be cited and whether such maneuvering could set a negative precedent in college athletics.
• They both acknowledge Kelly’s respectable record (34–14, 3–0 in bowl games) and see this as purely a financial dodge.

Memorable Moment:

“He even came up with that dopey southern accent as he tried to be good there.”
— Tony Kornheiser [09:05]

4. NFL Line Play & Coaching Carousel | Jeff Saturday Joins

[12:44–18:04]

Lane Johnson’s Return from Injury ([13:05])

• Jeff Saturday hails the toughness of Eagle Lane Johnson for returning after being carted off:

  “If we can get out there and be effective for our team, we’re playing through pain. That’s what Lane Johnson showed us.”
  — Jeff Saturday [13:05]

Darnell Wright’s Pancake Blocks ([14:14])

• Saturday ranks Wright’s “three pancake” run block above his crepe-like takedown, adding football flavor:

  “He got three pancakes for that block ... The other was a crepe, like a little app for breakfast.”
  — Jeff Saturday [14:14]

On Mike Kafka’s Audition as Giants’ Coach ([15:47])

• Saturday suggests Kafka’s familiarity with players helps in a head coaching audition, but notes wins and losses may be an unfair metric in a short stint.
  • “I think the good thing for him is he’s been in the building for a time … you’ve already seen the way he’s developed [players] ... Wins and losses, it’s hard to attribute that to coaching right now.” [15:47]

Bill Belichick at North Carolina ([17:03])

• The panel discusses Belichick’s adjustment to college ball; they see promise but caution patience as his defense improves.

5. Happy Time / Rapid Fire Sports News

[20:57–25:00]

• Ladd McConkey birthday: Chargers WR’s standout rookie stats.
• Derrick Thomas anniversary: Holds the single-game sack record (7) since 1989.
• Passing of Michael Ray Richardson: Praised for immense but unrealized NBA talent, with Wilbon comparing his ceiling (without off-court issues) to Magic and Bird.
  • Wilbon [23:32]: “He was a great mega talent and it just betrayed him.”

6. Lightning Round / The Big Finish

[24:04–25:00]

• Wembanyama vs. Cade Cunningham: Wilbon upset by Wembanyama “punking” the Bulls with a dominant, versatile performance (“Step back. Threes all over the place.” — [24:16])
• Other topics: Travis Hunter’s injury, Bills’ coaching, MLB rookies of the year, and Warriors vs. Thunder prediction.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "That’s the worst trade I have ever seen in my life." — Tony Kornheiser [05:33]
• "That trade hangs over that team and that building like a curtain." — Tony Kornheiser [07:55]
• "He even came up with that dopey southern accent as he tried to be good there." — Tony Kornheiser [09:05]
• "We do until we can't." — Jeff Saturday, on offensive linemen [13:05; 18:09]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:07 — Show open, recap: Eagles 10, Packers 7; state of NFL parity
• 04:58 — Mavericks fire GM Nico Harrison; Luka-AD trade fallout
• 08:17 — LSU/Brian Kelly contract/pay dispute
• 12:44 — Jeff Saturday interview: NFL line play, coaching carousel
• 20:57 — Happy Time: Sports anniversaries, tributes
• 24:04 — The Big Finish: Wembanyama vs. Cunningham, headlines

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Tone & Flow

Conversational, witty, sometimes caustic—as is standard for PTI. Kornheiser and Wilbon blend critique with humor, occasionally breaking the fourth wall or bantering about well-known sports figures’ legacies. Jeff Saturday brings earnest, practical insight with memorable football metaphors.

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Summary

This episode is must-listen PTI—fiery, insightful, and laced with both nostalgia and sharp analysis. The Mavericks’ self-inflicted wounds take center stage, inviting broader reflection on management accountability across sports. The NFL discussion reinforces a year of parity rather than greatness, while legal squabbles at LSU provide more evidence of how business, not just sport, drives college football. Jeff Saturday’s segment on line play, coaching auditions, and adjustment from pro to college exemplifies the nuts-and-bolts approach fans love. As always, the hosts move quickly from headline to headline, keeping the energy high and the debate feisty.

Transcript

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[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Jeff Saturday]

Learn [e-mail] Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon.

[Mike Wilbon]

Tony. The Wall Street Journal reports that executives are getting frustrated with workers who check their phones during meetings. Hey. Sorry. Did. I'm sorry, did you say something?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Pay attention. Have you ever seen the Cats? The Cats videos? They're very funny. Have you ever seen those?

[Jeff Saturday]

Not very.

[Mike Wilbon]

I don't want to see video. I just would fire everybody under 50 because all they do, they gotta walk across the street checking their phones. You know what I want to do? You know what I want to do?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, but tell the world what you want to do. You want to run them over as they cross the street.

[Mike Wilbon]

Is that what to do?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Welcome to pti, boys and girls. I'm with a maniac. In today's episode, the Mavericks fire Nico. LSU contends it has not fired Brian Kim. And Jeff Saturday joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with last night's Monday night game, which was a snoozer. There was no score at all in the first half. Ultimately, Philadelphia beat Green Bay 10, 7. In what would charitably be called a defensive struggle. The packers had now lost two straight games in Lambeau.

[Mike Wilbon]

Good.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Eagles have won three in a row. Wilbon, what does this result say to you about each team?

[Mike Wilbon]

It says it about not just the teams. With the whole league. We can start with the teams. There are no great teams. The Eagles may become great again and just sort of, you know, validate by repeating as champions of the league. But there's no great team in the league. You know, people wanted to tell us that Buffalo was great. No, Buffalo's not great. Detroit looks good again.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But what if they run the table? Run the table. Then we'll get to that point where.

[Mike Wilbon]

They run the table. Thank you for introducing that today. But the packers are weird.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Mike Wilbon]

You know, and we can stop with the love is MVP nonsense. We can stop with that. And so the packers, they have a pretty good damn defense, though.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, they do.

[Mike Wilbon]

They can. They can stop you, but they can't score, which is weird for a Green Bay team. Now, I know they've lost their tight end. Who was the Second most important player offensively craft on that squad. But Tony, you look at these two and they look like the rest of the league, which is some Sundays or Mondays they're capable, some they're not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm going to go from the macro to the micro here and I'm going to start with Green Bay. Green Bay has scored in the last two games a total of 20 points.

[Mike Wilbon]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They have just two touchdowns produced in their last 17 possessions. Right. These games were both in Lambeau, which is one of the great advantages in the entire league. So I think. Thank you for mentioning Jordan Love. I think we need to look at Jordan Love because Jordan Love in those two games has no touchdown passes and one interception. And he seems to be. This is his third year of starting every game and he seems to be just sort of spinning in place. They traded up to draft him and they thought that he would be in the company of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. And so far he is not. He's 12 in the playoffs, including a three pick, no touchdown game against these same Eagles. You mentioned their defense, and their defense has allowed in their three losses just 39 points. Just 39. Thirteen to Cleveland, 17 to Carolina and 10. They should have won all three of those games. And they, you know, like when, when Jordan Love looks pretty good. He looks like an above average quarterback, but he doesn't look special. It's hard to be a special quarterback.

[Mike Wilbon]

Well, even if 5, 1 and 1, you're looking at it thinking, okay, this is where the packers are supposed to be. But now, how about this? This makes me, you know, maybe so happy about last night's loss.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, you're having the packers lose.

[Mike Wilbon]

You know where the packers are in the NFC Central standings?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Behind. Are they behind Chicago at this point?

[Mike Wilbon]

Yeah. 5, 3 and 1.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Give me 20 seconds on Philadelphia because Philadelphia is fine. Philadelphia is a dependable team. They're not a flashy team. They are a pretty much.

[Mike Wilbon]

They're not great yet.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I. No, I'm not saying they're great. I'm not saying they're great. I'm saying they are dependable and they don't turn the ball over. Only four turnovers all year. That's the best in the league. And so down the road, that has to help you. Has to help you.

[Mike Wilbon]

You can go through the season like this if nobody else is great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Can you just tell me one thing? What's that? What was Sirianni doing going fourth down?

[Mike Wilbon]

Fourth down and not punting, not giving him two seconds and yards, but he'll double down. That's what coaches.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Doesn't it seem insane?

[Mike Wilbon]

They double down, seem to say they were right? Absolutely.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Seemed insane to me.

[Mike Wilbon]

The Dallas Mavericks, here we go today, finally made the move that Tony's been predicting, obsessing over since February, firing general manager Nico Harrison. Fan chants of firing Nico. You can hear him. They rained down last night in a loss to Milwaukee in which the mavericks blew a 13 point lead to fall to 3 and 8, their worst start in seven years. Tone, you said Harrison's trade of Luka should lead to his firing. Yes, it has. Now, is it justified? I'm sure you'll say it is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It is. Yeah.

[Mike Wilbon]

But how do you feel about the timing?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, let me get to the justification. Is it justified? It should have happened a long time ago. It's late, okay? That's the worst trade I have ever seen in my life.

[Mike Wilbon]

There are many who would concur.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just a terrible, terrible trade. And by the way, where. Where have you ever seen a hometown crowd chant for the firing of a GM like they don't even know the names of GMs most of the time? This is bad. That is amazing. That's an amazing thing.

[Mike Wilbon]

Home games are depressing. If you talk to people who were there in Dallas, they come away thinking, oh, my God, this was unpleasant. That's how bad it is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So let me go to the trade again. So he trades Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. Luka Doncic, a great player and a fan favorite. Right. Anthony Davis gets hurt all the time and his derisive nickname is Street Clothes. Okay? And so now Luca's team without LeBron playing a minute is eight and three. And that's pretty much all Luka and Dallas team is 3 and 8. They're 3 and 8 at the moment. And the worst part for Dallas, for ownership, is that people have stopped going. They're being heard in the pocketbook. So they had to do this and. And they should have done this before.

[Mike Wilbon]

I feel bad because the trade is not a trade that any of us, it seems, would have made. I know. Getting to know Luke, Nico a little bit. Nico Harrison didn't do this by himself. And I'm not gonna sit here and act like he did it by himself. The owner has to agree because I know better.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Owner has to agree.

[Mike Wilbon]

The owner didn't just agree. The owner was involved.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay?

[Mike Wilbon]

That's what I'm told. And I know, and I'll bet on that every day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But he's not going to fire himself.

[Mike Wilbon]

No, he's not going to Fire himself?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Mike Wilbon]

So Nico has to take accountability. I'm not saying he shouldn't.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Mike Wilbon]

And the home games, I've just started to watch Dallas because I thought if Anthony Davis was out there, God help me, if Cooper. Cooper Flag was great. Away as the number one choice, and he isn't.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Not yet.

[Mike Wilbon]

And this notion of him playing point guard. Jason Kid, a great coach, I don't know what the hell that's about. Because he ain't a point guard, and he ain't going to never be a point guard.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Kyrie Irving.

[Mike Wilbon]

Kyrie's hurt. Not there. And all those players on that team, PJ Washington, Derrick Lively, they're all dependent on a playmaking guard. And that ain't Cooper Flag. They had one, so it's doom.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They had two.

[Mike Wilbon]

They had two.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They had 2. Now they have none. They have none. Now they have none. And that trade, that trade hangs over that team and that building like a curtain.

[Mike Wilbon]

It does.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's terrible.

[Mike Wilbon]

It does. I just don't want to hear Nico being here. Where's the owner? Where's he? Take some accountability.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'll tell you.

[Mike Wilbon]

You're the billionaire. I'll tell you where. The owner, billionaire, bully. Take some blame.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The owner is the guy who just.

[Mike Wilbon]

Fired, and he's hiding behind Nico.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let's stick with the topic of famous guy firings. We all thought LSU fired Brian Kelly two weeks ago and had to pay him the entire compensation package, which was a low $54 million. Now, LSU has taken the position that Kelly wasn't actually formally terminated. In a legal filing, Kelly's attorneys say that LSU is seeking now to fire Kelly with cause to avoid that huge payout. Wilbon, what do you make of LSU's position in the Brian Kelly settlement?

[Mike Wilbon]

It's laughable. It's either somewhere between disingenuous and a flat out lie. They got rid of him because he wasn't winning enough. Anything else, by letter or not, is a lie. That's why they fired him. Now, if I'm Brian Kelly's agent, I am sticking to this. And I say until you get to 54 million with a comma, don't even call us. Don't give us the rest of this garbage about cause.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right? So other things may later come out in this. I don't know. But. But from what I know now, from what I know now, I'm looking to see what the cause could possibly be because they fired him because, yes, he didn't win enough games. So are they gonna turn around and Are they? And they gave him this contract. He didn't demand that. They gave him the contract. Are they gonna turn around now and say he tanked the games and that's cause he tried to win. He tried to fit in. He even came up with that dopey southern accent as he tried to be good there. So you have to tell me what the cause is in the contract. Moral turpitude. Are they going to find that that's in the contract? NCAA violations. Are they going to find that that's in the contract. But it's going to be just wins and losses. And by the way, he was 34 and 14 while he was there. And three and oh in bowl games. And if colleges could fire coaches for cause at any time they wanted, there'd be 100 guys out on the street tonight. 100 guys. They just fired everybody.

[Mike Wilbon]

That's right. But now with record. And that's the reason why they all want to be able to to do it now by all, I mean the 10 or 12 who are so damn arrogant they think it's their birthright to win a national championship.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't see the cause being in.

[Mike Wilbon]

The CFP because there is none. The cause is cause he didn't win enough. That's the cause. Lies. Stop it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think the governor may have something to do with it. I'm not certain. Let's take a break. Coming up, is Mike Kafka. That's how it's pronounced. It's not Kafka. Kafka getting a fair test purple to get the Giants full time job. We're going to ask Jeff Saturday.

[Mike Wilbon]

We're also going to ask him to choose between the more impressive blocks Darnell Wright threw.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Mike, who's going to take the LSU job now?

[Mike Wilbon]

Somebody they're going to pay a lot.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But they're not paying anything. They don't want to pay anything.

[Mike Wilbon]

Everybody. You know how college football works. It's all sycophants on both sides of the equation. That's all it is.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Let's dig into the NFL trenches with our great friend ESPN NFL analyst Jeff Saturday. Here's the first question. I was watching this. Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson got carted off in the second quarter last night, but then he returned in the fourth quarter as a lineman. How do you know when to risk it? By returning or to save yourself for another day?

[Jeff Saturday]

Oh, listen, first of all, I thought he was done for the year. When he got rolled up, I was like, we just lost one of the best in the business and again gets carted off. You're thinking terrible things. And then this animal comes back, you know, with what, six minutes or whatever it is left. Here's the thing about offensive line that people don't realize we play for each other. So he knows what Landon Dickerson has faced already. He knows Juergens has been out totes been having to play. We all got problems, man. We all got pain. If we can get out there and be effective for our team, we're playing through pain. That's what Lane Johnson showed us. Total respect, man, for getting back out there. And again, we don't talk about, you know, should we. We do until we can't at the O line position. And that's exactly what he showed last night.

[Mike Wilbon]

Not just hockey players are tough.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right. That's right.

[Mike Wilbon]

Guys in the trenches are tough. Speaking of Jeff, Darnell Wright, who is working his way into my heart, had two great blocks the last two weeks against the Bengals. He took somebody like all the way to the sideline and then he, Michael Spinks, Brian Burns of the Giants. Which one of those blocks impressed you more and why?

[Jeff Saturday]

All right, so I did the first block, the run block on pancakes. So he got, he got some pan. He got three pancakes for that block where he washed the whole side down and just takes him and drives him from hash basically to hash. So that was three. And, and then this morning I had him on there with the Brian Burns and it was a crepe, right? So it's like a light, you know, it's like a little app for breakfast, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

We're not.

[Jeff Saturday]

That ain't the real thing. He caught Burns on a spin, dumped him down. I loved it. But we can't go all the way. And I will say this because Dominique made sure I had. Dominique Foxworth, who was my cohort there on, on get up. Made sure I said he. Burns got the better of him a few times. So there was a little, there was a little pissed off in the action for when he caught him in the spin and made him pay. The only thing I would have liked more is for Darnell. Jump on him soon as he hits his back. Get on top. Make sure he knows that you're there. But he's, he's had a, a heck of a, A, A heck of a little run these last couple weeks.

[Mike Wilbon]

Wright's becoming a big time player now finally, isn't he?

[Jeff Saturday]

Absolutely. He's getting there and it take, listen, it takes time. He still got some issues on the outside edge, but he'll be, he'll be the real deal in time.

[Mike Wilbon]

I want to ask you about a guy that I know a little bit, Mike Casca, who has now taken over from Brian Dabal. And the Giants are reportedly looking at this as a seven game test, like an audition of his, you know, sort of head coaching abilities. You, you've been interim. You know how difficult this is. Is it fair? Can you do anything in that short period of time in an audition?

[Jeff Saturday]

Well, I, I think for, for Kafka, the, the good thing for him is he's been in the building for, for, for a time, right? He, he's already worked with Jackson Dart, who you hope comes back from concussion protocol. You've already seen the way he's developed. Scatter boo before the injury neighbors, right? So, so there's some, there's some, some, some water under the bridge for him. He's also been a finalist for a couple of jobs already. And so he's kind of built his credibility in this building and I think with Shane and the relationship he's seen from the development of Jackson Dart. I think that's where the true audition comes in right is, is already knowing the guys in the building. Building from the relationship. You've already, you've already started with these guys and then showing them kind of hey, this is what it looks like now. Wins and losses. It's hard to attribute that to coaching right now. Especially coming in, let's be honest, like day ball, they had four leads in the fourth quarter and somehow couldn't hold on to them. That's probably the greatest indictment on him. But, but, but Kafka can show not only the Giants but. But other jobs that are come up. Hey, this is kind of what you're going to get. QB development. You know, here's what I did for the receivers, here's what I did for the running backs. And then kind of, you know that that's kind of your, your, your. The information that gets put out on you not only for the Giants but for the other guys in the league.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We will get you out of here on this. Speaking of the Giants vacancy, Bill Belichick's name is being floated out there as a possible candidate for the Giants job. Thank you. He's won his last two at North Carolina. You know North Carolina pretty well. Have you seen changes in how he's coaching that team lately?

[Jeff Saturday]

I had. Listen, you watch a lot of self inflicted wounds early in the season and a couple games before the two that we've won. We had a chance. We really should have won them in the fourth quarter. Had some fumbles going in and I think it's just you're watching that defense really develop. They've gotten, they've gotten really sticky over the last couple of weeks and I think you're seeing the progression. I think everybody understood this is going to take time. He'll continue to add talent to the roster and will get the most out of these guys. It takes time, you know, for a guy who's coming from the league to college, the whole recruiting thing. So I think Bill is finally getting some traction on this thing. Guys are starting to develop and buy in and the results have shown that on the field.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thank you so much, Jeff, as always.

[Mike Wilbon]

Thank you, Jeff. Appreciate it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thank you. Let's take.

[Jeff Saturday]

I appreciate y'.

[Mike Wilbon]

All.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let me just say this. We do until we can't. That's Jeff's phrase about offensive linemen. We do until we can. Let's take one last break. Still to come, did Cade Cunningham or Victor Wembanyama move on stable post a more impressive performance last night.

[Mike Wilbon]

Wembanyama performance angered me greatly. Nathan McKinnon has nine points in his last two games. Is he going to keep the binge going tonight? You know Kafka is a Northwestern guy. Did you know that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I know. Okay, I was told that just to make sure. I was told that you would have interest in that because he was from Northwest.

[Mike Wilbon]

Absolutely.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Happy time people. Happy 24th birthday. Ladd McConkey, the Chargers wideout, was drafted in the second round in 2024 out of Georgia, where he played on two national championship teams. McConkie went to the Chargers where in his rookie season he had 82 catches for 1149 yards and seven touchdowns, which is what can happen when you have Justin Herbert throwing to you. McConkey entered the NFL the same year as his Georgia teammate Brock Bowers, who caught 112 passes last year. This season, McConkey already has 51 catches for 631 yards and four touchdowns, including a 15 yarder against the Steelers on Sunday night. In that game, McConkey had four catches for 107 and that touchdown.

[Mike Wilbon]

Until a half hour ago I was convinced that lad McConkey, Laddie was related to Phil McConkey. How can he not be? Except he's not apparent.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I had the same assumption you did and people talked me off it. They said they're not related at all. Happy Anniversary Derek Thomas this is posthumous but on this day 35 years ago, the Chiefs pass rushing great set the still current record for NFL sacks in one game with seven against Dave Craig and the Seahawks. Thomas almost had an eighth sack, but on the last play of the game Craig slipped out of Thomas grasp and threw a game winning Thomas touchdown pass for Seattle. Thomas had been the fourth overall pick in the 1989 draft out of Alabama. He made the Pro bowl seven times in his 11 year career with Kansas City where he is still the franchise record holder with 126 1/2 sacks. In 2009, Thomas was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football hall of Fame.

[Mike Wilbon]

I'm gonna say something serious for a second. I never wore a seatbelt until Derrick Thomas lost his life in such an awful way. Car accident that he did. I started wearing a seatbelt the next day and have worn one ever since. Not before that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well you should. And everyone should.

[Mike Wilbon]

Everyone should. That's why.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Absolutely you should. A melancholy trails to Michael Ray Richardson. The four time all star guard passed away today at the age of 70. The Knicks drafted Richardson fourth overall out of the University of Montana in 1978. He was a very likable and productive player and with the team tumbling out of contention in the 1981-82 season, he uttered the most famous quote ever by a New York Knick the ship be sinking unquote. After the season the Knicks dealt him to the warriors for Bernard King. Richardson eventually ended up on the Nets where he had a strong run before being banned from the league for drugs. He later played in Italy and France and coached in the cba. And his son Amir currently plays soccer for the Serie A team Fiorentino.

[Mike Wilbon]

People have no idea how talented Michael Ray Richardson was. And he was up there, Tony. And without the cocaine use which got him banned from the league. He's up there with Magic and Bird in that group. He was. He led the league in assists in his second season. He led the league in steals three times and was running up a bunch. He was a great mega talent and it just betrayed him.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You can't put him with Magic and Bird. I watched him.

[Mike Wilbon]

You did. You loved him then.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I did. But Magic and Bird are celestial.

[Mike Wilbon]

I didn't ask Magic about that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let's go to the big finish if we can. Cade Cunningham. He had 46 in a Pistons win and Victor Wembanyama had 38 as the spurs beat your Bulls, which was more impressive.

[Mike Wilbon]

Cade took 46 shots. Wembanyama just punked the Bulls. He played gangstered them. I'm embarrassed by the way that went down last night. At the end of the game. Step back. Threes all over the place. Travis Hunter had knee surgery today and is out for the season. Your thoughts?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I feel bad we hadn't had a chance to see what he could really do. Maybe it's too hard to play both ways in the NFL now. Bill's head coach Sean McDermott said the team is sticking with offensive coordinator Joe Brady, not considering Brian Daboll. Your thoughts?

[Mike Wilbon]

I'm tired of the ifs and buts with the Buffalo Bills. Are they good enough? It doesn't look like it. Again, baseball's rookies of the year are Nick Kurtz and for the A's and Drake Baldwin of the Braves. Does that make sense?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Nick Hurts had like 36 home runs.

[Jeff Saturday]

He's played great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's unanimous. Last one six and five. Warriors at 10. One thunder tonight. Who you got?

[Mike Wilbon]

Can't go cause the Thunder at home. Sorry, can't do it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Uh, we are out of time. We will try to do better the next time. Happy anniversary to Elizabeth and Ron.

[Mike Wilbon]

Happy anniversary. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, Knuckleheads. And now pti.

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