Hour 1: Are Spurs the Best Team in the NBA Right Now?

From 30 for 30 podcasts. Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing what's about. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. They're placing the arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now. We were trying to fight against the wall the whole game. Castle underneath the windmanyama again. Back-to-back area 51 assist connections. And if the first lob wasn't a dagger, The second one certainly does feel like it. Came into the home of the Beasts of the East. Took a punch, but punched right back. The Spurs are headed home with a W. Hello, everyone. Welcome to First Take. Shea Cornett here with you in snowy New York. Yes, again. Vince Goodwill's with me as well. Give me a little something. There you go. Stephen A., Monica McNutt with us as well. Good morning, everyone. How are we feeling? Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. How y'all doing? How y'all doing? Cold in one word, cold. It's cold. I just, Monica, are you stuck? I mean, are you stuck in a hotel room? Are you okay? You okay? I am not stuck, but it is cold here in Cleveland. I'm sitting in the window for the best natural light. So in particular, this location in my room is cold. That's fair. Cleveland not much warmer than New York right now. Speaking of cold, some issues with Cade Cunningham shooting. A little cold last night. Let's go to the game last night. The Spurs were in Detroit to face the top team in the East. Like I said, Cade Cunningham admitted they just could not figure out Wemby early on as the Spurs jumped out to an early lead, and they really never looked back. Cade struggled shooting, missing 21 of 26 shots with only 16 points. Victor Wemby-Nyama, on the other hand, had 21 points, 17 boards, and 6 blocks as the Spurs win 114-103. Here is Wemby after the Spurs' ninth win in a row. It's actually night. I mean, this is what they do, you know. If they don't want you to score, they're not going to let you score. And this is why I was also talking about progression. Because everybody was connected tonight. Second half both sides of the floor. But the whole game, everybody was connected offensively. And it shows on the stats, you know. I mean. We got six players shooting more than ten shots, you know. Everybody got to eat tonight. Facts. Everyone got to eat tonight. Right now, the Spurs are only two and a half games behind the Thunder in the Western Conference. But are they the best team in the NBA right now? Monica, what do you think? Whoo, ciao. I think, okay, so they have the longest win streak going. They're third in defensive rating. They're seventh in offensive rating. The way that they are playing and the momentum that they have, they are healthy. I think that is the biggest key in this conversation. And they just took out the team with the best record coming out of the Eastern Conference pretty comfortably, might I add. I think it's hard to argue that they are not currently. Now, could that change? For sure. But guys, as much as we are in awe of Wimby, I just continue to kind of look at this team and acknowledge how complete they are. Now, if I had to check all the boxes in terms of making someone a favorite, they obviously still don't check that experience box. But in terms of perimeter defense, interior defense, shooting, balanced attack, You heard Wimby talk about the way they were able to share the ball last night. Right now, I do think you have to give the Spurs that prestigious honor. Right now is the key word in that question. Yeah, for sure. Winning streak is the way that Victor Wimby-Yama's playing. It's the fact that they're on this rodeo trip as a young team. Like the Lakers go on the Grammy trip. The Celtics go on the circus trip. Those are all trips where veteran teams start to put it together. This is a young team that is winning by an average of 19 points a game on the road. And keep in mind, Victor Wimbanyama isn't even playing 30 minutes a night and is putting up this type of production. Like I said, he's Jason Voorhees. You think he's behind you. He's in front of you. You think he's away from you. He's at the rim. He's pitching your shot back to half court. That type of defense carries in the playoffs. My concern is like Monica's concern. They haven't even been to the playoffs yet. They have not experienced heartbreak or a seven-game playoff series. The record against Oklahoma City is guardy, but I'm very fascinated to see if this can continue, along with the fact that they do not have great outside shooting. It's a lot of questions, but they can answer them with that defense. What do you think I say? Well, first, a couple of things to get out of the way. My brother, you know, Vinny, you look cold, my brother. You look cold. I hope that it gets warm. Are you saying cold as in fly? No, no, no, like cold. Like chili. You mean chili. You look chilly. You look chilly. I mean, I just want to point that out. The turtleneck. I'm just wishing for warmer days for you. I'm wishing for warmer days for you. That's all I want to say. I just want to look out for you. That's number one. Let me move on. I'm just wishing for warmer days. Number two, are the Spurs the best team in the NBA right now? I'm not going to say that. They won nine straight, eight straight by double digits. Major, major props to them. I got it. You got the second seed in the Western Conference. We know they're coming in Wimby Yama. Wimby Yama is just a beast. We all know this, and I love his attitude. I love the fact that he goes and gets it. He's putting everybody on notice. He's not playing around. You know, he's here to win. He competes in an all-star week, and he competes during the regular season. So you know what to anticipate come playoff time. He had six blocks last night, but he altered so many other shots. But there's a few other things to take into consideration. Number one, the perimeter shooting sometimes can get a bit stale. We know that come playoff time, you're not going to be able to afford to do that. Their defense can answer the call in most situations, and we get that part. but still in all, you're going to have to make shots. Number two, Duren had 25 points, 14 rebounds. That's a big deal. You didn't have our Stewart there with him. So what if he were there? You got to ask yourself that question because their front line would be buffered and how would they react to that? Kane Cunningham, we know this brother's a star. We know how special he was. That was not the case last night. Shot only 19% from the field. Actually shot three for 13 when guarded by Castle. So we got to take that into consideration as well. Is that an anomaly? Is that an aberration? Well, that's something that you can depend on continuing to happen as the season progresses, regardless of which opponent that you're against. So all of these things seem to work well, you know, with the San Antonio Spurs in that particular situation. But still in all, you just try to look at them and give credit where creditors do. They are legit. They are real. Their defense is elite. Weminyama is that dude. There's no doubt in anybody's mind that shouldn't be that they're going to win a championship eventually because this dude is just that kind of generational talent at 7'5", playing the way that he plays. But still in all, experience is something that you have to bring into the equation. It's one thing to face you on a particular night during a regular season. It's another thing when I get the game plan for you in a best-of-seven series, I get to make adjustments. Also, you know, you've got to also think about the fact that, again, you know, as you're playing the minutes that you're playing now, you're going to play more minutes if you're Wimbiyama. come playoff time? You're going to be in there from 35 to 37 minutes a night. Is your body going to hold up? That's another legitimate question as well, because we all know he's frail thin. He's an extraordinary talent, you know, and obviously he has physical gifts that's God given because everybody can't be seven feet five, but you're still going to find yourself asking because of how thin he is, you know, when they allow more physicality in the postseason and what have you, how is he going to be able to hold up against that? Because, you know, come playoff time, everybody's going to use every trick in the trade to their advantage. And that's something that we got to watch out for. Okay, but I say, so if the Spurs are not the best team right now, who is? I guess it's my only follow-up question. Well, for me personally, I'm still looking at the Detroit business, even though they lost last night because you didn't have one of your big men to throw a body at them. So we got to take that into consideration. You're still behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, who's been playing without Shea Gilgis-Alexander. And Jalen Williams, what about when they come back? So I'm looking at it from that standpoint. But the Spurs are definitely a top five team in the NBA, top four team in the NBA. I can't deny that. Ooh, Vinny, we got him this morning, Shea. We got him. Because the question is right now. And he ignored that. Right now, it's the Spurs. I didn't ignore it. Shea is now playing for OKC. But you're saying because Shea is not playing. And I'm going like, that's what we're doing? Because that's not reality. I get to look at a team and say, all your horses in order, who's who. But you're saying, no, right now Shea's out, so I can't count. I can't think about Oklahoma City without Shea Gilgers-Alexander. Without Shea Gilgers-Alexander, I don't have Oklahoma City as a top 18. Oh. Okay. I think that's a little steep, but okay. It's not steep. Without Shea Butter? Without Shea Butter? No, I don't have them as a top 18. Eight. Eight. Yeah, I said it. Without Shea, I don't have them as top eight. So the Thunder are banged up. It seems like the Pistons don't have a true number two go-to shooter at this point. And then you look at the Spurs, and they don't have experience, as Monica pointed out, to lean on, right? Because this group hasn't even been to the postseason. SA, I'm going to go back to you really quick. More likely to make the finals. Is it the Pistons or is it the Spurs? Oh, my God. I think it's Detroit. And I think it's Detroit because the road to prosperity is easier in the Eastern Conference than it is in the West. If you're Detroit, you have to concern yourself for Boston, New York, and Cleveland. And we know what we've seen them do to New York. So it's really about Cleveland with James Harden being a question mark come big-time playoff games. And Boston still without Jason Tatum. But even when Jason Tatum was there, we saw the Knicks about to take them out last year. So we've got to take that into consideration. in the Western Conference. The Spurs have OKC. They've got Denver. All right. You've got Minnesota. You've got Houston. You've got to take an abundance of teams into consideration. And so I'm just saying that the road, the amount of teams in the Western Conference that are formidable are steeper than exist in the East And that why I have Detroit having the easier path to the finals than the Spurs See he said easier path and I think Detroit does have the easier path But what's most likely is the thing that trips me up is because Detroit doesn't have a second score. That concerns me when you get into the throes of a playoff series against playoff defense. Like talking to young players, like Steve has talked to young players, I've talked to young players. what they've said to me is the playoffs are a different sport. The way it's officiated, the way you scout, the way you play. And I think with the makeup of this team, remember, no Malik Beasley, so you don't even have a guy who's thirsty for three-point shooting, who's thirsty to go and get shots in bunches. So much is going to be on Cade, like an Allen Iverson, like a Derrick Rose. And I think those things catch up with you if you have not gone through the gauntlet before. For San Antonio, that defense, when you funnel everything down to Victor Wimbignyama, so much of this, guys, is going to come down to matchups. Who do the Spurs play in round two? Assuming they get out of round one, maybe they play the Clippers or Phoenix or the Lakers, I think that'll be an easier matchup for them. What happens is when you get beyond the first round and you're playing every other day and Victor Wimbignyama has to play 35, 36, 37 minutes a night, and you've got guys beating up on him, I want to see how he handles that. shockingly, as inexperienced as Detroit is, they have more playoff experience than the San Antonio Spurs. They've gotten their heart broken in the first round in the way that the Spurs have not. The Spurs are two years ahead of schedule if Detroit is at least one year ahead of schedule. I think the folks in the cold weather are standing together in solidarity. Although, I will admit, I was texting Cass, our producer, like, I'm about to change my answer because this question is putting me in the mixer. I am going to lean Spurs on this question, and it is because we both, all of us, all three of us, have talked about the challenges of each of these rosters. And if both rosters could be potentially tripped up by their lack of perimeter shooting, right, I just think that the Spurs are better equipped to potentially overcome that. Now, I agree with Essay that the Western Conference is a little bit more of a gauntlet, but I really am concerned that for the Pistons, if they can't figure out a way to space the floor in the playoffs to venue's point, things will collapse around Kay Cunningham, and it just will not be room for him to operate. Like, you got the Celtics on that side. The Knicks defense continues to improve. They're going to have a lot to prove in terms of the history of the Spurs, of the Pistons matchup in the regular season. We'll see what happens with the Cavs. I just think the Spurs are a little bit more uniquely prepared to navigate, and I think they can find some better perimeter shooting, And obviously they got the big fella in Victor Wimbiyama. But this is a very tough question. Spurs 9-2 against the top six teams in the NBA. Those only two losses came against the Rockets and the Thunder. Remember, that was only one time against the Thunder. Let's go to college basketball now. Darren Peterson, who many believe could be the number one overall pick in this upcoming draft, has heard the criticism of him not finishing games and taking himself out of games. Peterson did tell ESPN, quote, Everybody's got an opinion on it, but basketball is my life. If I could have been out there every game this year, I would have, end quote. Well, Peterson was a full participant last night for the Jayhawks. As the true freshman played 30 minutes, he dropped 14 points en route to Kansas, winning big 69-56 over the number five team in the country. That would be the Houston Cougars. After the game, Peterson was asked again about all the noise surrounding his college career thus far. Listen to this. Somebody's had something to say probably after every game this year, so I don't really pay attention to it anymore. I've kind of been an antisocial loner my whole life, kind of, so I kind of just deal with it on my own. All right, so he holds it all a little bit more internally. Maybe he'll speak more about this later on. But nonetheless, S.A., what was your reaction to what Darren Peterson said after the game last night? He's entitled to his opinion. It's his life. And he's coming to the defense of his own self, which I respect. I've never met him. I don't know him. Most people that's covering the NBA can say the same thing. But what he has to understand as a young man growing in the manhood is that your actions speak louder than your words. And the reality is, is that you've missed 11 or 12 games in your first collegiate season for stuff like cramps and the flu. and you've let coaches know or coach self know, according to reports, minutes before a game that you couldn't go. And people are deducing you're going from 30, 35 games potentially in a collegiate season to 82 games during a regular season and beyond if it's the postseason and you're already showing an inability to be relied upon in terms of your availability. That's reality. Those are facts. We don't know you at all. So guess what? All we're going by is what we see. Well, why the hell have you shown us that? Why the hell have you shown Bill Self that? Why have you shown the Kansas program, the Kansas faithful that? Why have you been such an unreliable commodity for them? Well, you're saying, okay, it's legitimate injuries. Did you know, Darren Peterson, that there are reports out there that the NIL money that you were supposed to get, you didn't get all of it. And because you didn't get all of it, you said, hey, OK, since I didn't get all of it, guess what? You're going to give me half of it, hypothetically. Then I'm going to give you a half ass effort. There are people out there that have said that. Vinny knows it. I know it. This is what it said. We don't know if it's true or not. I'm in no way saying it's true. I'm saying that narrative has been put out there about you. What are you going to do about it? It's your future it's not us we got a job okay whatever that is all right we're doing our job what are you going to do about it this is your reputation we're looking at AJ DeBonza at BYU that shows up every game ready to ball we're looking at Cameron Boozer at Duke that shows up every game ready to ball we're seeing constant college it's Flemings it's Acuff Jr the list goes on and on everywhere you turn we're seeing cats that are available night in night out ready to ball and the person that's projected as being the number one overall pick because he's considered a superstar talent potentially a generational kind of talent from a guard spot which is you Darren Peterson is missing 11 12 games as a freshman you just got there you understand you haven't even had a chance to accumulate bad breath and already you've been missing games what the hell is that about that's you so it's not i don't know this kid from a can of paint i'm not rooting against him i wish him nothing but the best i'm i'm sincerely rooting for him and i think i can speak on behalf of an awful lot of people in our business nobody rooting against you nobody enjoys saying this stuff we don't enjoy having these questions about you we want to see this electrifying talent that we hear that you had that we've seen you put on display from time to time. We want to see that show up. We don't want the number one team in the nation, in Arizona, coming in to your backyard to play against you, and your team has to beat them without you because about five to ten minutes before the game, you told Sav you can't go. What? Nobody want to hear that. We want to see you play. That's what this is about. And the fact that there's questions and skepticism, whether it's you or it's your camp and the people who are influencing the decisions that you make, that is coming across as being the reason why you are unavailable more than your health. So if you want to change the narrative, speak up, speak out, and most importantly, exhaust yourself in every way possible to make sure you are available. because the television shows, the podcast, and everybody in between, the radio shows, they're not going away, my brother. They're not going away. What they're talking about you now, this is going to be the storyline and the narrative that's attached to you wherever you go until you make sure that you are available to do what you do best. And that is ball in spectacular fashion. That is a fact, whether you like it or not. it's a tricky thing when you talk about college athletes because eight or 19 years old and they're experiencing something for the very first time i'm very careful about sometimes the narratives i remember talking to somebody about anthony edwards in college and they said we don't know if this kid likes basketball can you imagine someone saying that about anthony edwards now with everything that we know now the information is so limited right but one thing i talked to two gms last night two GMs who possibly could right and the lottery or the playing and everything else and one gave me this quote he said if he's tapping out on minor ailments now what do you think he'll do when he gets to the league those are the questions that you will have to answer when you get into those interview rooms when you get into those meeting rooms like there are four or five franchise potentially changing players in this draft and you want to be able to separate and differentiate yourself from your competition. It's not just you. And these teams are going to be making $100 million investments in you. What they want to know is, are you making these decisions? Is your camp making these decisions? How much of a competitor are you? Are you in this with us or are you in this for yourself? And when you're 19 years old, a part of me sits back and says, man, that's a lot for a kid to answer. But the other part says, this is college athletics now. This is NIL. These are pro athletes playing in college now. So the stakes are a lot higher. It's on. It feels unfair. But this is the covenant that they've entered through NIL through all these things. And you have to be accountable. Now, the question is, what advice are you getting? Who are you getting it from? Is it in your absolute best interest? Because as a competitor, if you're out there, you play. It's not like college load management unless you have some debilitating injury that prevents you from playing. And if you have a debilitating injury, you probably don't have a long career in front of you. So if it is a real injury you have other questions that are bigger than are you playing the requisite amount of minutes for Kansas right now If it you are being managed like Stephen A alludes to then there bigger questions about your judgment Well, and the thing about it is, listen, it's unfortunate, but he needs to know that narrative is out there. OK, and let's understand where this come from. Let me let me let me educate this brother about the world he's going into. You know, a lot of times we talk about these rags to riches stories and we talk about, you know, the desolate environment upon which folks come from. And then ultimately you get to a place like that and you shine and obviously you accumulate riches beyond your wildest dreams. Right. Well, you know what? In the process of all of that is an analogy that a lot of people lose. We see people throughout the streets of America dying in the streets for hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars. What do you think corporations are going to do to protect millions, if not billions? Just answer that logical question. You have a situation where you're projected to be the number one overall pick. Do you know that it will cost people jobs to miss on that pick? What if you drafted Darren Peterson and he wasn't reliable, but A.J. DeBonza shows up as the number two pick and he's available every night? Now, it's not a good analogy because look at Greg Oden when he was drafted number one and Kevin Durant drafted number two. Greg Oden worked his butt off. He worked hard. He cared, etc. He just was injured, period. He could. He was injured, period. But it was a disastrous pick, you know, for the number one team because you passed on Kevin Durant. Because we see what Kevin Durant has become as an All-American out of Texas. OK, you can't afford to make those mistakes. This is why kids need to understand to protect their investment, which ranges in the hundreds of millions of dollars. You're going to have people spying on them. They're going to find out your medical history. They're going to want to. They're going to check on your proclivities, your habits, what you like, what you don't like. They're going to find out what girl you want to mess with. They're going to find out how you like to party. they're going to find out whether or not you can't stay off the weed. They're going to sit up there and get on you about if you go on the strip clubs, if you've got a favorite soul food spot, they're going to know about that. If you a mama's boy and you like to be at home with your mama, they're going to know about that. If you're sitting up there and you've got managers and hangarons, they're going to know their names, they're going to know their backgrounds, they're going to know their habits, they're going to know everything. Why? Because they're trying to protect their investment. I don't care what they tell you, Darren Peterson. They're all over you. They're like white or rice. And by the way, it's not just the NBA teams. It's the connections that they have to the streets, to your neighborhood, to the AAU squads, to your high school coaches, to your friends, everybody. Deep, deep pockets. You could pay people off all the time. You got spies in your camp. You don't even know it. This is what will be done. This is what has been done. If any, no, I ain't lying. The stuff that these people find out, the extent that they go to to find out what they can find out about you is deep. And so when I'm sitting up here telling you, brother, I'm looking out, I'm trying to give you the heads up. They're all over you. And the narrative out there about you right now is that you didn't get the amount of NIL money that you were expecting to get. And so as a result, you half assing it. That's the narrative. I didn't say it's accurate. I don't know. You need to know that's what they're saying about you in basketball circles. Maybe it's to impugn and stain your reputation. Maybe it's false and unfair. And it could be incredibly unfair to you. But it's a reality that you're going to have to deal with because either folks out there are telling the truth or you got some enemies that are staining your reputation. Either way you slice it, you better deal with it. Because if you allow this to continue to foment and grow, it will hurt you. I'm looking out, my man. I don't know you. I just know that I want to see your greatness put on display. And we haven't seen that enough because you've had damn near just as much time off as you've had on. That is unacceptable in the eyes of most basketball fans when it comes to a freshman. You know, broken ankle, twisted ankle, sprained ankle, all of this other stuff, knee, meniscus. That's fine. The flu. Cramps. Nobody want to hear that. You better figure that out, bro. You better figure that out. So Darren Peterson says, obviously, basketball is life. We'll have to take that at face value. Maybe we'll hear more from him later on. Otherwise, I don't know why he wouldn't have just said out. He wouldn't have just said to call it until we get to the NBA draft, considering the talent we know he can potentially have. Coming up here on First Take, WWE superstar CM Punk and AJ Lee will join us to preview everything Elimination Chamber. And I'm sure Punk will have something to say about Roman Reigns as well. Plus, George Pickens balled out last season. But now it's time for Jerry Jones to get Pickens signed. Are we looking at a proven year for the star wideout segment? Obviously, it involves the Cowboys. You don't want to miss that. That's next. Welcome back to First Take. The Cowboys have a large question mark next to George Pickens as to whether they're going to pay him, tag him or let him walk. And it sounds like the Cowboys are leaning toward franchise tagging him, which would ensure him a one-year, $28 million-ish deal by March 3rd. Pickens led the team in receiving yards and touchdowns last year. He also had career highs in both those categories, but did also lead the team with four fumbles. Here is Stephen Jones on the matter. Pickens, of course, you know, leaning toward the franchise tag. We'll finalize that here over the coming week or 10 days. and then we'll go from there. We want Pickens here. Thank the world of him. Want him here, love him, and I think he wants to be here. So all that's a plus. A lot of guys who we've tagged participated in everything. Dak leading the way, and he played under two of them. So he never missed anything. Hopefully that'll be the case here. Hopefully that is positive thinking by Mr. Jones. Peter Schrager and Jason McCourty join us now here on First Take Schrager. Is this going to be a prove-it year for Pickens? Yes, it's going to be a prove-it year for Pickens, just like last year was a prove-it year for Pickens. And I listened to Stephen Jones' comment, and I'm imagining I'm George Pickens on this Tuesday morning, and I'm waking up wherever George Pickens is. It's like, do not compare me to Dak Prescott. And that is what the Cowboys are going to do. They're going to say, if Dak did it, you should do it too. Take the tag and be happy. You're going to make $28 million. What are you worried about? Truth of the matter is, Dak Prescott is a franchise quarterback who when he was tagged was making upwards to $40 million or $50 million for a year. And it wasn't really a prove it. It was a let's figure it out. For George Pickens, when he was traded by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the rap was can't rely on him, malcontent, don't know where he's going to be. I think he silenced all those questions in his one year with the Dallas Cowboys where he led the team in catches and yards and touchdowns and was absolutely fantastic in some big spots. That said, I understand where Dallas is coming from here. I understand it. Prove it to me again. This is the luxury that we have as a team. We can put the franchise tag on you, and you can have to go show us one more time, not only on the field, but off the field, that you have the maturity that you are going to be getting one of these huge mega deals paying you $30 million to $40 million a year. I hate to franchise tag. So I think to Shregg's point, like, yes, he does have to. It is a prove-a-year because when you're assigned to a franchise tag, it's one-year guarantee. And now you have to hope that somebody else, whether it be the Dallas Cowboys or another team, is willing to pay you that big contract. So, yes, he is going to have to go out there and do it again. But to your point, when you get traded for it, the Dallas Cowboys, they're going to say that we have these different variables. We have CeeDee Lamb on the other side that we already paid a boatload of money to. So we're going to need you to take number two money. If I'm George Pickens, like, those aren't my problems. I got here. You had already known you'd paid CeeDee Lamb. You traded for me with the hopes that I would have the type of season that I just had this past year. I've proven to you that if you bring me over, you give me a good quarterback in Dak Prescott, my numbers are going to skyrocket and they're going to be career year numbers. And that's what he did. So if you're George Pickens, yes, the franchise tag is a lot of money in one year. But now you have to go out there and prove it again. And the risk of injury, the risk of going out there and having the same type of year when every team now coming in know that you just went for 1,400 yards a year ago. It's that much harder. But to answer the question, absolutely, it's a prove-it-year. That's the definition of the franchise tag. I say. Unfortunately, y'all are right because when we talk about a prove-it-year, Steven Jones doesn't have to prove anything. Jerry Jones doesn't have to prove anything because they don't have to worry about being gotten rid of. And the reality is that even though I understand from a business standpoint They have the leverage. They're exercising it. They have the power to franchise tag him at $28 million for one year. His market value for a long-term deal would be about $30.6 million, so it's not that far off. But the point is they get another year out of George Pickens, you know, where attrition could kick in, where an injury could occur, where they could be devoid of having the responsibility to make a long-term investment in him. And you look at it from that standpoint and you say this plays right into their hands. The reality is that we all know how I feel about Jerry Jones, but the reality is, you know, they haven't earned the right to be in that position. The system enables them to be in this position. The decisions that they made have not shown that they've earned the right to be in this position. When they moved on Micah Parsons, they should have moved on him earlier. You know, the same agent that Micah Parsons has, you now deal with George Pickens. You could have found a way to work things out. the two pieces that you acquired before the trading deadline, had you acquired them a week or two earlier, you might have had a shot to make in the playoffs instead of missing it. There's an abundance of things that we look at the Dallas Cowboys, and we always say they're late to the party, they're late to the party. And where they seem to shine is in getting headlines for the actual negotiation process instead of negotiating and handling things expeditiously. You look at Dak Prescott, he's your star quarterback. You're paying him $60 million. The man is on the record saying yo man we want we want George Pickens back We need this brother back Take care of him OK you like to think that they would look at that and look at the combination of C Lamb with Pickens with Dak Prescott throwing in the football and say this is an elite trio we can get rid of They don have to get rid of him because they can franchise him But having Pickens under a franchise tag I don't know how good that is for the Cowboys. If he's worried about his long-term decision, about his long-term future, he's going to go out there and make what they call business decisions. And sometimes you might not go all out because you're trying to preserve your health to make sure you're positioned for that long-term deal rather than going all out and potentially putting yourself at greater risk to get in the way of that long-term condition. These are the Dallas Cowboys we're talking about here. It usually goes down like that a lot of times. It usually happens like that. So I don't know how wise it is. They do have the leverage from a business standpoint, guys. They have every right, like both of y'all pointed out. But I agree with Jay Mack. I don't like it at all. I don't like the fact that they're in a position to do this to George Pickens. Keep him long-term or let him go because chances are if he's under a franchise tag, again, Peter, he's going to be out there making business decisions. We've seen him make what we deem to be business decisions before this situation. Imagine what he's going to be if you franchise tag him. I don't know how well that's going to work for them. I also – great point, Stephen A., and I also look at it from the Cowboys' perspective. They went through this with Dak for two off-seasons, and I remember covering it very closely daily. Is Dak going to be a Cowboy? He's not going to be. Ezekiel Elliott went deep into the offseason. Of course, we had C.D. Lamb. And then, like, last year, like, this is becoming a Cowboys thing. And now this one's unique in that this is a guy who they brought in on a deal and had a free agent contract right away, and it wasn't one of their homegrown players. But, gosh, what a break from what's been an offseason annual rite of passage of doing Cowboys segments of will they pay him, will they not. Imagine they just paid him and said, let's just pay him. Let's just pay him because we have the money, and we think that these two guys are pillars and cornerstones to have wide receiver one and wide receiver two in the NFC. Last thing I'll just add really quickly. If you pay them a long-term deal, it frees up more money in cap space for them, which allows them to address their defense, to actually be a competitive team and get back to the playoffs. I think that should be the key for them. If you can extend George Pickens and now you have more money to expand on that defense, now you can actually go out there and say, hey, we're a contender in the NFC. Because right now, without that defense, it doesn't matter if they have George Pickens or not. And I think that's what people forget. Franchise tagging doesn't always help your pocket. It doesn't always benefit the team the way people might think. Go ahead, Essay, final word. The other thing is, and right there, I'm leaning on my relationship with Jerry Jones, and I'm asking everybody to remember the two interviews that he did with me. One was on my YouTube show, and the other was when he came on my radio show. And in both instances, he's telling you how he thinks, and, you know, he's going to hold on to that money. It was hard for him to pay prime time Deion Sanders come out of his pocket at $13 million at that particular moment in time. And he's a guy that literally, literally thinks about what he had to go through. Not one, not two, but $3 billion lawsuits against him when he first took over ownership. Jerry Jones is a kind of person who believes it is an absolute privilege for you to be playing for the Dallas Cowboys. And he believes that there's a discount that comes with that. Now, we all disagree with that. We get that part, but that's how he thinks. And so when it comes to this time of year, you never know what he's going to do to get in his own way, at least in the immediacy of the moment, just to make sure that he reminds people of that mode of thinking that he lives by. It's repeatedly gotten away in negotiations, and he hasn't cared. Last time Dallas reached a long-term deal and a player tagged for the first time, 2015, Des Bryant. It has been a minute. Mel Kuyper Jr. has released his latest NFL mock draft just this morning. There's a certain selection Stephen A. cannot wait to touch on. You don't want to miss that. And then, look who's here. WWE superstars CM Punk and AJ Lee are in the building. They have huge matches at Elimination Chamber this Saturday. We'll dive into this next. Hi, guys. And we brought the belt, too. Love it. Chicago. That's right. That's it. The ESPN app is your new home for WWE premium live events, and that includes the Elimination Chamber on February 28th, right in my hometown of Chicago. And to watch, you need the ESPN Unlimited plan. You can sign up at the URL below, or if you have a paid TV provider, you might already have ESPN Unlimited included at no additional cost. Just head to activate.espn.com, follow the steps to get set up, And you're good to go. Then, sign in to ESPNF and boom! The biggest WWE premium live events. All in one place. Anytime. Anywhere. The want. The will. The winner of this matchup goes on to WrestleMania. The Wimby City. Stream Elimination Chamber on the ESPN app with the ESPN Unlimited plan. Elimination Chamber is just days away, and we've got WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk and AJ Lee here to get us set. Let's go. Hi, guys. How are you? Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I'm specifically excited. We got to talk a little Chicago as they were walking in, so that's good. CM Punk, this will be the first time you walk into the United Center as a world champion. Yes. So what will it be like being able to return home as a champion this weekend? It's going to be special. You know, this is a special building. It's a special wrestling city. And it's a special event anytime I get to wrestle in front of my hometown crowd. You know, it's an event. Elimination Chamber is already a huge event. I think you have it in Chicago. And we haven't had a major event at the United Center in over 30 years. So we're bringing out the big guns for this one. Go. Excited for that. Go ahead, Essay. AJ, allow me to chime in here. It's good to see both of you. Congratulations on everything. AJ, is this true? This is your first singles match in a decade? Is that true? Yeah, in over a decade. A little nervous. I got back in at a tag match with the best in the world, and I had the best tag team in the world, the last one. So on my own this time. Well, I'm asking because, I mean, you're about to go up against Becky Lynch. I mean, could you talk to me about that for a second here? What are you anticipating that's going to be like for you? Well, I keep saying I'm proud to say I'm the best of my generation. She is the best of her generation. So if you put the two of us together, nobody else to help us out, what's going to happen? Who comes out on top? I really think that I'm going to leave the United Center with the Intercontinental Championship, and then we'll both have titles. Oh, yeah. How cute would that be? That's so cute. There's a lot of things going through my head right now. Let's stay with Becky Lynch here, because she also had this to say about you on X over the weekend. Let's pull that up. I can't wait to humiliate AJ Lee in front of her family and friends next Saturday. She'll be so embarrassed that she will retire from wrestling for good. And to be honest, nobody wanted her back anyways. That's why she is an absolute joke. Little does she know Chicago loves me. I will probably get the most cheers and most from the crowd at the United Center, way more than me, Phil. Chicago is and will always be Big Becky Believertown. It's a paragraph. You want to handle that? That's a lot of capital letters. She tweets like somebody with dementia. I don't know if that's a... Yeah, that sounds accurate. I just love to be on her mind. I'm constantly on her mind. And I think the mind gates have worked the past few months. I feel like she's not at her best self. She's really kind of spiraling and losing control. I'm going to take advantage of that. Love it. Okay, very good. CM, I got to come back to you because, I mean, We all know you were scheduled to go up against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, but Finn Balor, you're going up against him prior to that. What is that about? You're risking losing your title before getting to WrestleMania. Why would you do that? Talk to me about your mindset behind that decision. My mindset is I am a fighting champion. I'll put it to you like this. If a franchise sports team gets into the playoffs, they don't stop playing the regular season games, do they? No, there's people that buy tickets. They come to see me. I'm coming to give them a show, and they deserve a fighting champion. Okay, fair enough. I mentioned CM as you walked in. We got to talk a little bit of Chicago on the way because he's a Bears fan. I'm a Bears fan. The success we had this season, are we still glowing about it? Do we feel like we can repeat it? Yeah, listen, I loved the Hail Mary, the pass that worked, and then it was great until it didn't work. But I like a coach who takes those chances, and I like a quarterback who succeeds under pressure. Caleb Williams, I thought, had a good freshman year. I thought his sophomore effort was obviously ten times better. Ben Johnson, great head coach. I'm looking forward to see what they do. Hopefully the McCaskies sell the team. Because of the stadium. Let me transition before I let you get on out of here to hockey because I know I heard you're a big hockey fan as well. What did it mean to you to see the men's hockey win the gold against Canada on Sunday, but the women won the gold too, so let's not fail to give them credit where credit is due. Both brought home the gold for Team USA. What were your thoughts about that? Listen, I give everybody that put skates on for those gold medal games credit. It kind of pains me to watch Canadian athletes have this defeat about them while they're getting a silver, and I know that they wanted the gold, but those were some of the greatest hockey games that I've seen in the last 20 years, and just As a fellow athlete, my hats are off to everybody that skated for their country because those games are tremendous. They were. Talk about a game bringing everyone together on an early Sunday morning. It was so fun to watch. CM AJ, thank you so much. Enjoy Chicago this weekend. We will be watching. Again, the 16th annual WWE Elimination Chamber is Saturday at the United Center in Chicago. A spot in the men's and women's championship matches at WrestleMania 42 is on the line. Streaming exclusively with the ESPN Unlimited plan, live or on demand using the ESPN app. Sign up or log in with your TV provider to unlock your access. Coverage begins at 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific. Coming up on First Take, Kevin Durant talked to Vincent Goodwill and had some choice words about other countries catching up in terms of USA basketball. We've got a lot to say about this. Plus, Mel Piper Jr. will join us to talk about his latest NFL mock draft just dropped this morning. And where he has one of those players going is going to surely get a reaction out of Stephen A. We'll do that next here on First Take. And now leave me here for you