Michael Wilbon Steps Away From ESPN's 'PTI' and NBA Coverage to Focus on Health

Michael Wilbon is stepping away from ESPN for now. The longtime “Pardon the Interruption” co-host said Monday that he is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the show and from his NBA work on ESPN and ABC to deal with what he called multiple health issues. He stressed that he is not retiring.

“This isn’t retirement, but it is a trip to the injured list,” Wilbon, 67, wrote in a statement posted to social media. “Hopefully not an extended one.”

Michael Wilbon stepping away from ESPN: what he said

Wilbon wrote that “struggles with multiple health issues in recent months” led to the decision, according to the Los Angeles Times and Front Office Sports. He also admitted he waited too long.

“Probably, I should have listened to medical professionals and people closest to me, yep Kornheiser included, who saw worrisome signs in recent years that suggested I take time away earlier. But I didn’t,” he wrote. “And as one close friend has said as my issues have become bigger, ‘the bill has come due.’”

He went out of his way to say what the leave is not about. “The struggles are all health related, not to alcohol (I’m not swearing off the now-and-then Kier Royale) and not to gambling (those winds of change I find loathsome),” he wrote.

Wilbon didn’t give a return date. “I have no idea exactly how this part of my journey will wind up,” he wrote. “The goal is to come out of it feeling much better than I do now and ready to return to sparring with Tony.”

‘Beyond exhausted’

Wilbon spoke more about it Monday morning on “The Tony Kornheiser Show” podcast. He said he had already missed a week of “PTI” because “I was just, I mean, exhausted. Beyond exhausted — lifeless. And this has been going on for a while,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

He said part of what he is dealing with stems from diabetes, “but that’s not the entirety of it.” Front Office Sports noted that Wilbon has previously been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. He has not publicly detailed his other health issues.

He also said the people around the show had been urging him to take time off. “My way is to run through the brick wall, to go to work,” Wilbon said, according to Front Office Sports, citing Awful Announcing. “You go to work until somebody stops you from going to work. Well, that’s what this is now.”

This article reports on a public figure’s announcement and is not medical advice.

Michael Wilbon ESPN: the network’s response

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said the network supports him. “Michael and his family have ESPN’s full support as he takes time away to focus on his health and well-being,” Pitaro said. “We are here for Michael every step of the way and look forward to welcoming him back whenever he is ready.”

Who is hosting PTI?

An ESPN spokesperson told Front Office Sports that longtime guest hosts Pablo Torre and Frank Isola will fill in this week. Plans beyond this week have not been set. For his NBA duties, Front Office Sports noted that ESPN has a deep bench of studio and game analysts.

25 years of PTI

The timing is notable. The leave comes less than two weeks after “Pardon the Interruption” marked its 25th anniversary. Wilbon and Kornheiser, both former Washington Post sports writers, have hosted the show since it debuted on Oct. 22, 2001. According to Front Office Sports, more than 5,500 episodes have aired, and it has long been the most-watched show in ESPN’s weekday studio lineup. The show has won the Sports Emmy for daily studio show three times, and both hosts signed multi-year contracts in September 2025, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“I have loved sparring and hosting PTI with Tony every single day these past 25 years,” Wilbon wrote.

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