Rudy Gobert is silencing critics, and earning respect in the process

Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

Rudy Gobert was having one of the most spectacular performances of any NBA player this postseason, but it wasn’t enough to stop the criticism.

As Shaquille O’Neal gave the 7-foot-1 center a compliment, he simulated vomiting during TNT’s halftime show last Wednesday. “I never thought I would say these words that are coming out of my mouth: Rudy Gobert is dominating.”

Gobert went on to finish with 27 points and 24 rebounds in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ close-out win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series, ironically becoming the first player since O’Neal in the 2004 Finals to finish with at least 25 points, 20 rebounds and 75 percent shooting in a playoff game.

Gobert was informed of O’Neal’s backhanded compliment as he sat by his locker after the game. When asked why current and former players seemingly enjoy taking shots at him, he shrugged.

“It’s a good question,” Gobert told FOX Sports. “I guess all I can do is keep being the best Rudy Gobert I can be and try to win a championship. That’s where my focus is. And eventually, one day, the respect will be there.”

Despite being a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, three-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection, Gobert is a lightning rod for criticism. He’s about to face one of his biggest detractors in Draymond Green in the second round of the playoffs, with the Timberwolves hosting the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 on Tuesday.

Gobert’s and Green’s chippiness can be traced back to 2019, when Gobert teared up while talking to reporters about not making the All-Star team. His reaction went viral and he became a meme. Green, whose streak of three straight All-Star appearances was snapped that season, tweeted, “I guess I should cry too.”

Three years later, Gobert took a shot at Green after he punched then-teammate Jordan Poole during a Warriors practice in Oct. 2022, tweeting, “Insecurity is always loud.”

Six months later, Green fired back after Gobert punched former teammate Kyle Anderson after Anderson called him a “b—h” in the Timberwolves’ regular season finale. Green tweeted the same four words: “Insecurity is always loud.”

Things came to a head last season when a skirmish broke out between former Warriors guard Klay Thompson and Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels, with Green inserting himself into the action by putting Gobert in a chokehold. Green was ejected and suspended five games. Less than a month later, after Green struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face, Gobert weighed in, telling ESPN, “I have empathy for him. You see somebody that’s not well inside and suffering.”

Green got his revenge last postseason while serving as a panelist on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” repeatedly criticizing Gobert’s defensive effort against Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic during their second-round series. Timberwolves fans responded by heckling Green after Game 2 of the Western conference finals at Target Center, chanting “Draymond sucks” while he was on-air. Responded Green: “Rudy sucks, not me.”

The Timberwolves then took a stand against Green’s derisive comments about Gobert, as well as Karl-Anthony Towns, by declining to appear in a postgame interview on “Inside the NBA” after Game 4, according to The Athletic.

Gobert, who has never won a championship, and Green, who has won four titles, are two of the best defenders in the NBA over the last decade, having won a combined five Defensive Player of the Year awards over that period. So, perhaps their rocky relationship can be partially chalked up to competition between two defensive greats.

But Green is far from the only player who’s not a fan of Gobert, who played for Utah from 2013-2022 before being traded to Minnesota in July 2022.

Gobert was voted the most overrated player in the league by his peers last season in a poll by The Athletic. This season, he was the runner-up for that ignominious title, behind Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton.

But why is Gobert so disliked?

“I’ve been asking myself that question for years, actually,” LA Clippers forward Nicolas Batum told FOX Sports of his teammate on the French national team.

“He has been on a winning team pretty much the last six, seven years. Utah was the No. 1 seed [in 2021], playoffs every year. Minnesota has been a Top [6] seed in the West the last two, three years, conference finals last year. I mean, what do you want? On the national team, we got to the Finals, the gold medal game. The man wins and he plays defense. I don’t really know why people get mad about him.”

When it comes to Gobert, there are two moments that are easy to pinpoint when trying to trace his villain origin story, beginning with his outpouring of emotions in 2019.

“I think that moment, more than anything, defines how people see me in America vs. who I really am,” Gobert wrote in a first-person essay for The Players’ Tribune last April, adding that he wasn’t crying because he felt snubbed, but rather because his mother broke the news to him while she was crying, which reminded him of all of the sacrifices she had made when he was a child.

Then, in March 2020, Gobert jokingly touched microphones and tape recorders during his first socially distanced media availability. Days later, he became the first NBA player to test positive for COVID-19, prompting the league to temporarily suspend its season. At the time, his former Jazz teammate, Donovan Mitchell, who also tested positive for the virus, acknowledged he was frustrated by Gobert’s behavior.

On the court, O’Neal has felt as though Gobert hasn’t justified the five-year, $205 million contract that he signed in Dec. 2020, which made him the highest-paid center in NBA history at the time.

Last summer, O’Neal called Gobert the worst NBA player of all time on Complex’s “GOAT Talk” podcast with his son, Myles O’Neal.

“If you sign a contract for $250 million, show me $250 million,” O’Neal said of Gobert, who averaged 14 points and 12.9 rebounds last season, before putting up 12 points and 10.9 rebounds in his most recent campaign. “There’s a reason why I walk funny, why I can’t turn my neck and why I can’t do it. Because I played for about $120 million. You got guys like him who f—k the system over. They’re making all this money and they can’t f—king play. So, I don’t respect guys like that.”

For Gobert, Game 5 was an opportunity to help silence his critics.

Two of the biggest superstars in the league in LeBron James and Luka Doncic were fighting to keep their season alive, but Gobert was the best player on the court.

He helped the Timberwolves outrebound the Lakers, 54-37, including having more offensive rebounds (nine) than the entire Lakers team combined (eight). Gobert also made 12 of his 15 shots – including a stunning eight dunks – on a night when the Timberwolves were shooting a woeful 7 of 47 from beyond the arc.

For Gobert, that performance was a redemptive moment after his slow start to the series. (He had just 14 points through the first four games.)

Not to mention, he also exacted revenge against Doncic, whose step-back 3 over Gobert in the final moments of Game 2 of the 2024 conference finals had haunted him all season. Doncic’s Mavericks went on to eliminate the Timberwolves in five games, before the guard was traded to Los Angeles in February.

Gobert didn’t hesitate when asked what his mindset was heading into an elimination game against the Lakers.

“Just trying to go and dominate,” Gobert told FOX Sports. “In the beginning of the series, the first four games, I was putting a lot of energy out there but it didn’t translate in points or rebounds. I tried to keep doing what I was doing, keep being relentless. I knew that all the work I was doing was wearing them down over time. And I was expecting them to break at some point.”

For Gobert, playing the antihero against the darlings of the league was a sigh of relief for the much-maligned big man.

“He was a dragon tonight,” Anthony Edwards said after Game 5.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch called him “a winner at the highest level,” adding that the criticism he receives is overshadowed by the respect he garners from his teammates.

“He doesn’t listen to the outside noise,” Finch said. “We don’t listen to the outside noise. And no one is happier for Rudy than his teammates right now, particularly Anthony, [who] let everyone on the floor know it was Rudy’s night and nobody was around to stop him.”

Gobert isn’t quite sure why he rubs players the wrong way.

Initially, he wondered if he was an outsider because he’s French. He has acknowledged that he has made mistakes over his 12-season career, but he has come to realize he can’t control how others view him.

“That’s why he’s so great,” Batum told FOX Sports. “I’m very impressed because he found a way to get over that. He doesn’t listen to people and does his job. Not many people can do that, actually.”

Gobert knows there’s only way for him to get the respect he craves.

He needs to win a championship.

So, he’s pouring himself into accomplishing that goal, knowing it could change his narrative.

“I’ve been an underdog my whole life,” Gobert told FOX Sports. “Since I started playing basketball, I’ve always beat the expectations. So, I’m going to continue to do that.”

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.