Pardon the Interruption | Wilbon Reacts to Holmgren’s Max Rookie Extension

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10/07/2025

🚨 On Pardon the Interruption, Michael Wilbon reacts to the Oklahoma City Thunder agreeing to a max rookie extension with Chet Holmgren, a five-year deal reportedly worth $239 million guaranteed and up to $250 million with incentives
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Wilbon praises the organization for locking in a championship-caliber core, highlighting Holmgren’s dominance after coming back from injury, his role during the Thunder’s title run, and how his presence alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander cements OKC as a team to beat .

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00:00Sivianic Sinner erased American Ben Shelton in straight sets, winning all the opportune points.

00:05Novak Djokovic lost the first set to Flavio Koboli in a tiebreak,

00:10but stayed on the court for three hours and won the next three sets.

00:13On the women's side, Igor Sviantek, who wins a lot of French Opens but no Wimbledons,

00:18won in straight sets to reach the semifinals, and there she will play unseated Belinda Bencic,

00:23who won in straight sets, both tiebreakers.

00:25Wilbon, what stood out to you?

00:27Well, the first thing that stood out to me is Belinda Bencic.

00:31She had a baby.

00:32She gave birth 15 months ago, about that, and she comes back and she's winning

00:37and she's this deep into the most prestigious tournament in the world in her sport.

00:43That's a my God, because the guys we're going to talk about, I can guarantee,

00:47I don't know much about their personal lives, but none of them have given birth,

00:50and I don't think anybody's unlikely to.

00:52So, given that, Tony, I watched pretty closely the men.

00:58You know, I've been waiting, hoping that Ben Shelton could break loose,

01:02but to break loose, to break free, to bubble up any higher than he is,

01:06he's got to beat, you know, he's got to win against a number one or a number two,

01:12and he might get that chance right now, right?

01:15He had that chance against center.

01:17And, Tony, to me, it's just that on those bigger points, he's not there yet.

01:21He's still young.

01:22He might get there, but he's not there now.

01:25And center, even though he's got this thing going on his elbow, he's got to wrap,

01:28he's got a wrist, he's got this, he's got that, he's got to stop, he's got to pull it,

01:32he's got to push it, he could still, he's better on the big points,

01:36and he's more creative throughout the match, which Ben Shelton's going to have to add to his game.

01:42So that's, I spent most of my attention and energy on that match, even more so than Joker.

01:50I did.

01:51My biggest takeaway from watching, and I watched a lot today, is one moment in time.

01:56It's right around the end of the Djokovic match, when he falls down by the baseline,

02:03and does this very awkward split as the ball goes by him, and he loses the second of two match points.

02:09In that moment, he's laying there in pain.

02:12It's obvious pain.

02:14Now, we hear all the time about his great conditioning and his amazing elasticity.

02:20He gets up and starts walking around, doesn't call for a trainer, doesn't have to leave the court,

02:25doesn't come back in third, no, no, no, no, no, no, has a brief conversation with somebody I think

02:30might have been the chair umpire, and then calls for the tennis balls and goes back,

02:34serves the next two points, and wins the match.

02:36I was really impressed with that, I have to say.

02:40So now he's going to get Sinner, you talked about Sinner beating Shelton, he's going to

02:44get Sinner in the semifinals, right?

02:46Now, they played the semifinals in the French, and Sinner beat him, and I could be mistaken

02:50here, but I think Sinner's beaten him something like five matches in a row.

02:53Four?

02:54I thought four in a row, okay.

02:56Whatever it is, it's a bunch.

02:58Okay, can he beat Djokovic on grass?

03:01This is the different thing.

03:03Can he beat him on grass, elbow or no elbow?

03:06You know, that, I don't know.

03:07Djokovic is great at Wimbledon, and Djokovic has come into this thing talking about the

03:11fact that this is his best chance to get the 25th thing, 25th major.

03:15I will just add this parenthetically.

03:18I sort of find myself rooting for Shviantek for this reason.

03:21I want to see her win on something other than clay.

03:23Win on grass.

03:24I don't know if you agree with this, Mike.

03:26I don't think you can be an all-time great if you don't win Wimbledon.

03:29I think Wimbledon has to be in your resume.

03:31Yeah, it probably does, although the surface differences are not what they were when you

03:37and I were tennis fanatics.

03:39You know, it doesn't, you don't have the variety there, but I got your point, though.

03:44I hear you.

03:45Let's move to the Miz.

03:48Brewer's rookie, Jacob Mizorowski, who Tony kind of dismissed as an ordinary cheesehead

03:53yesterday, surrendered a leadoff home run to Shohei last night, and that was that.

03:58The Miz struck out 12 Dodgers over his first five and went six in all, out-pitching Hall

04:06of Fame-bound Clayton Kershaw as the cheeseheads beat the Dodgers 3-1.

04:12The Miz called it a dream come true.

04:14Tony, I think you heard about it by now.

04:17What do you call it?

04:18I would call it Wilbon's revenge.

04:22You talked about this yesterday.

04:24You had it completely right.

04:26You touted the fact that Mizorowski was going to go up against Clayton Kershaw.

04:30You praised Mizorowski to the skies.

04:33You know, I don't know that everybody understands that the reason you know about Mizorowski is

04:37he plays in the one division you pay attention to because the Cubs are there.

04:40But that doesn't matter.

04:42You had it right.

04:43I was skeptical about this whole thing.

04:46I was a little bit dismissive about it.

04:49As you said, he gives up a leadoff home run to Shohei Itani.

04:53He gives up nothing else.

04:54That's why people are batting, opponent batting average against him is 138.

04:58He strikes out 12 Dodgers.

05:00You know the last guy who struck out 12 Dodgers over the course of six innings because he stayed

05:04in the game for six innings?

05:06The last guy was Shohei Itani when he was with the Angels, if you want to talk about irony.

05:09And before that, it was Max Scherzer, the warrior god.

05:14So you had this thing right.

05:16My point all along, Mike, was the same.

05:18Was that let's not put him in the category of Kershaw now.

05:21Maybe not ever.

05:22Because Kershaw's going to the Hall of Fame and he's got 3,000 strikeouts.

05:25But the Miz outpitched him last night.

05:28And if Kershaw didn't know who he was coming into the game, he knows now.

05:32My basic point is let me know when he wins 219, he's won four.

05:36Well, I'm going to pay attention before he gets to 219.

05:40And I remember a time when there's a fireballer comes along.

05:45And you wrote a column because I happened to look it up.

05:48And you wrote about this in the Washington Post when Kerry Woods struck out a million people.

05:52And you said, when there's a young, handsome fireballer, pay attention.

05:57So I'm taking the advice of a young Anthony Kornheiser who said, pay attention.

06:03And so the Miz, though he is a cheesehead, and I am by birthright required to hate him.

06:10I watch this kid.

06:11I watch every start because he comes out and he throws 102.

06:15He throws gas.

06:16And he says, sit down.

06:18And then he can pinpoint it.

06:19Tony, he's not just a thrower.

06:21There's enough of a pitcher in there to pay attention.

06:25So I'm not going to say he's the equal of Kershaw yet, but I'm going to pay attention.

06:29No.

06:30No, no, no.

06:31Last year you paid attention to Skeens and you should be paying attention to him again.

06:35This is two in a row that we look at.

06:37Can they do it a second year?

06:38You know, we moved to college basketball.

06:40There is persistent talk that the NCAA tournament, both men's and women's,

06:45will be expanded beyond the 68 teams that we have now.

06:47If such expansion takes place, it will either be to 72 teams or 76 teams.

06:53Wilbon, you and I are old enough to remember the 1970s when there were 16 teams in this tournament.

06:58If this expansion happens, how does the logic sit with you?

07:02It doesn't.

07:03I don't want to hear it.

07:04I'm not going to listen to it.

07:06I'm not going to boycott the tournament.

07:07I'm going to watch the tournament no matter what it does, probably.

07:11But, you know, you're leaving this to a body.

07:14Up there, that logo that says NCAA, there's not a more worthless brand in sports.

07:21There's not a more mistrusted brand in all of sports than the one, the logo that says NCAA.

07:30Because the people who rule for that body, they look like clowns much of the time as a body.

07:37Even if I know and you know, we know people who represent the organization and have wonderful careers.

07:44But when they convene and they act in the name of NCAA, they get it wrong more often than not.

07:52So they're going to screw this up.

07:54It's an iconic event brand.

07:56The Final Four, March Madness, the Big Dance, all of that.

08:00And they're not smart enough to leave it alone.

08:03The logic in this is very, very simple.

08:07There is only one reason for expansion, just one.

08:11It is money.

08:12It is more money.

08:13So the teams that come in at number 69 or number 71 or number 76, you know, it doesn't matter what number they are.

08:20They can't win this tournament.

08:22They cannot win this tournament.

08:23They are in there to gin up television revenue and gin up gate revenue.

08:29That's all this is about.

08:30They are going to say that there is a fairness issue here, that more conferences will get more teams, in which I don't believe.

08:38They're going to say there are 354, I believe, 354 D1 teams and only 20 percent are represented in the tournament.

08:46Look, we see this in all sports.

08:48We see extra playoff rounds, extra playoff teams.

08:51There's more wild cards in baseball.

08:53There's a play-in in the NBA.

08:54It exists for money.

08:56That's why it's there.

08:57And if, Mike, there are 354 D1 teams in basketball, 325 cannot win this.

09:05They cannot win this.

09:06You're not going to get teams from one big conference.

09:09My school, Binghamton, is not getting in if we don't win the conference, right?

09:13It's not what's going to happen.

09:14You're going to get sixth and seventh place teams from big conferences, and they're never going to win, right?

09:20They're never going to win it.

09:22Stop.

09:22Tony, not only that, they're not going to gin up the gate because nobody's going to go watch.

09:27Those teams won't.

09:28No, 50 alums are going to watch those teams.

09:31What are they doing?

09:33No, I mean, you try progressively to ruin something, and eventually you will.

09:38Eventually they'll say everybody gets in.

09:40They'll put everybody in eventually.

09:42Let's take a break.

09:43Coming up, Lawrence Butler started a game with an inside-the-park home run,

09:46and then Patrick Bailey finished one with his, and that sounds like toss-up.

09:51And Cal Raleigh hit a big home run for the Mariners last night.

09:56It's time for toss-up.

10:00Two men enter.

10:00One man leaves, finishes the show, then heads out on his evening streak through the neighborhood.

10:06What's first?

10:07Toss-up.

10:07How do you prefer your inside-the-park home runs?

10:10Lead-off or walk-off?

10:12All right, let me just start by saying both of these home runs were tremendous.

10:18Fabulous to watch.

10:19Let's start.

10:20Lawrence Butler of the A's leads off the bottom half of the first inning last night.

10:26The first pitch he sees, he hits to the right center field wall, and he just keeps running,

10:31puts his head down, and he just keeps going.

10:33He slides headfirst into home.

10:35There's no throw.

10:36The throw doesn't even get there.

10:39So, boom, it's 1-0.

10:40And the other one, Mike, is better.

10:43The other one, the Giants are down in the bottom of the ninth inning.

10:46They're down 3-1.

10:48There's two on.

10:49They're catchers.

10:50Patrick Bailey steps up there, hits one off the top of the wall in right field.

10:55It callums crazily.

10:56I thought it got all the way to left field on the track, and everybody keeps running.

11:01Three runs score.

11:03That throw to home gets closer, but there's no tag or anything like that.

11:06And what I would end with is saying, he's a catcher.

11:09How many catchers hit inside the park home runs?

11:13I mean, what are we talking about here?

11:16Tony, it's the walk-off.

11:17It's not close.

11:18The other home run that happens in Sacramento, in the minor league ballpark, the A's are playing

11:23it right now.

11:24You're not even in your seat yet.

11:26You're walking around.

11:27You're getting the dog.

11:28You're getting some popcorn.

11:30First pitch.

11:31And it's a curiosity.

11:31First pitch.

11:31There's some first pitch in the bottom half inning.

11:33A guy's running the bases, and you go, what is this?

11:36Is this some kind of marketing thing where the kids are running the bases before the

11:40game?

11:41You don't even know what the hell's going on.

11:43Anything that happens in Oracle's better.

11:46Oracle is one of the three great ballparks in Major League Baseball.

11:51Wrigley, Fenway, Oracle.

11:54Oh, I'll throw Yankee Stadium in there.

11:56That's the list.

11:57And if it happens in Oracle, which used to be AT&T, you got Dimensions.

12:02You got McCovey Cove.

12:03You got all kinds of stuff that make it give you a throwback sense to the 1940s or 50s

12:09when ballparks were asymmetrical and the ball could go forever, and you got inside the

12:14park home runs.

12:15It's Oracle.

12:16It's the game winner.

12:17The guys running out of the dugout make it more dramatic.

12:20The whole thing makes it a no contest.

12:23Sorry, Open A's guy.

12:26I would include Camden Yards.

12:28I think that's a great ballpark.

12:29What's next?

12:30Toss up.

12:30Who had the most notable home run in the Yankees' rout of the Mariners last night?

12:35Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, or Cal Raleigh?

12:40Okay.

12:41It's not Stanton.

12:43It's his second home run of the year.

12:45They were already up in the game.

12:47It made it 4-0.

12:49Okay.

12:49So what?

12:51Judge hit his 34th home run of the year.

12:53It's a lot of home runs.

12:54His fourth in the last six games.

12:56He's having a great year.

12:58Okay.

12:59No, no.

13:00Cal Raleigh hit his 36th home run of the year.

13:03That's the most in the major leagues.

13:06It is now Cal Raleigh's record.

13:09Most home runs by somebody from Seattle before the All-Star break.

13:12He just broke Ken Griffey's record.

13:15And it allows me to say big dumper.

13:17Big dumper.

13:18Big dumper.

13:20Big dumper.

13:21Yeah, but the notion that it's a record is big dumper.

13:25Because people don't know.

13:27There's not the same number of games before every All-Star break.

13:31That's why it's bogus.

13:32It just allows people to get on TV, most of them under 40, and scream,

13:38it's the first time it's ever happened.

13:41We don't know that.

13:42Do you know how many games that were played by those Mariners before they got to the break?

13:49No, you don't know.

13:50No, the people screaming on television don't know.

13:53It varies.

13:53Somewhere in the 80s.

13:54It's not the same number of games.

13:56Yeah, that's right.

13:57That's right.

13:57So it's a notion that it's a record is completely and utterly bogus so people can get on TV and radio and say record, record, record, record.

14:06Here's what's not bogus.

14:09He's got the most home runs in all of baseball right now.

14:11He's got the most.

14:13That's a big deal.

14:14Big deal.

14:14It's roughly, we're past the halfway point.

14:18I'll care if he's got that on October 1st.

14:20The answer to the question is Stanton because it was 1-0 and made it 4-0.

14:25And by the way, if the Yankees are going to be any good this year, it can't be just Judge.

14:34Happy time, people.

14:35Happy 69th birthday, Tom Hanks.

14:38Yeah, Tom Hanks, the great American actor.

14:41He is in one of the most wonderful sports movies, A League of Their Own.

14:44Where he plays Jimmy Dugan, the manager of the women's baseball team, the Rockford Peaches.

14:49Hanks has the unforgettable line, there's no crying in baseball.

14:52He has been Forrest Gump.

14:54He has been Ben Bradley, who was our editor at the Washington Post.

14:57He's been Mr. Rogers and Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell and Walt Disney and airline hero Captain Sully Sullenberger.

15:05He made one of the great rock and roll movies of all time, That Thing You Do.

15:09And Tom Hanks is a diehard Oakland A's fan who has crestfallen at them leaving his hometown Bay Area.

15:16But that makes me wonder if he was out there in the hundreds of people on average who would go to those games.

15:23I told you, I'd wander over from the Warriors that were playing for championships, and there were like, I don't know, 85 people in that mausoleum of a baseball stadium next door.

15:33I mean, if Tom was in there yelling and screaming and waving something and buying hot dogs, even better for him.

15:40You know, it was something sort of charming about it, even in its emptiness.

15:43Happy anniversary, Joe Sackick.

15:46On this day, 16 years ago, the first Ballot Hall of Famer retired after 21 seasons with the same franchise.

15:53The Quebec Nordique became the Colorado Avalanche, and Sackick scored 625 goals and 1,641 points for them.

16:01Sackick led the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001, then won another in 2022 as the general manager.

16:09Sackick was playoff MVP in 1996, league MVP in 2001.

16:15He's the third person, along with Milt Schmidt and Serge Savard, to win a Stanley Cup with the same franchise as a player and GM.

16:22And he's in the Triple Gold Club for winning an Olympic gold medal, a world championship gold medal, and a Stanley Cup.

16:29How can a league be better served, a hockey league, by having teams in Carolina, Florida, and Florida, and not in Quebec City?

16:38What? Huh? Come on now.

16:41The NHL should have found some way to address that, like the NBA is going to try to find one soon, I hope, to address not having one in Seattle.

16:49Don't do that. It's bad for him.

16:52Happy trails to the start of the NFL season for Tristan Wirfs.

16:57The Bucs' first-team All-Pro left tackle aggravated a right knee injury earlier this offseason.

17:02He had arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday.

17:04The Tampa Bay Times reports that Wirfs is likely to be placed on the physically unable to perform list to start the season, making him ineligible for the first four games.

17:13The 26-year-old is a four-time Pro Bowler and the team's highest-paid player.

17:18He protects Baker Mayfield's blind side in the passing game.

17:21In the running game, the Bucs improved from last in the league two seasons ago to fourth overall last year.

17:27Tony, he's a great player of unquestioned toughness.

17:30I'm not a better, but if I was, I would say, really, he's going to be on the pup list after arthroscopic surgery?

17:37Eh, you know what?

17:39I'd be all that shocked to see him on the field much sooner than that, earlier, sometime in September.

17:45I'm just saying. I'm just wondering.

17:48Thank you, Dr. Wilbon.

17:50Update on the King Griffey-Cal Raleigh debate.

17:53Griffey's Mariners played 88 games before the All-Star break in 1998.

17:56Raleigh's Mariners have played 91, but both Griffey and Raleigh start at 88.