As Jaden McDaniels and Klay Thompson went at it in a fracas, Green jumped in — like, literally, you can see him jump — and wrapped his arm around Rudy Gobert’s neck. Then, WWE-style, he uses the other one for a headlock for a few seconds.
Call it a headlock. Call it a chokehold. Whatever you call it, it wasn’t necessary. I’d say that’s one game for escalation, two or three for doing something egregiously dangerous along with Green’s history.
Draymond Green should be suspended. This is the type behavior the NBA should be punishing. Not players flexing after a poster dunk. pic.twitter.com/RzeALrNj55
After their first NBA matchup, Minnesota Timberwolves big Rudy Gobert praised fellow Frenchman and San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.
Just a few years ago, a video went viral depicting 16-year-old Victor Wembanyama playing one-on-one with fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert. The two have had a relationship since the San Antonio Spurs rookie was 13 years old, as both are from France, and Gobert helped mentor Wembanyama as he grew up in the basketball world.
Now, Wembanyama is one of the brightest young stars in the NBA, and on Friday night, he and Gobert faced off for the first time in their respective NBA careers. The Minnesota Timberwolves walked away with a 117-110 win over the Spurs, but the end result of the game didn’t change how special the moment was.
After the game, Gobert spoke about Wembanyama’s game and what he envisions for his French companion. (H/t Austin Nivison of CBS Sports)
It was back in October that a photo of Victor Wembanyama looking taller than his fellow French player Rudy Gobert went viral. That’s pretty hard to do, considering that the Minnesota Timberwolves big man is 7-foot-1.
But we now have a new photo and video of the two standing side-by-side, and yeah, it’s wild. Wemby definitely looks taller than Gobert. That means someday, when they match up against each other, NBA fans might want to see Wembanyama backing down Gobert because it’s a mismatch (I kid. Sort of.).
Check out the photos and videos, along with a video I saw of Wembanyama vs. Gobert a few years ago:
Even 7'1" Rudy Gobert looks average next to Wemby 😳
The Minnesota Timberwolves season might already be on the line, and their starting big men probably won’t rescue them.
During the Denver Nuggets’ 122-113 win in Game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead, what Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert brought to the table was questioned by Charles Barkley. Mind you: the NBA on TNT never said their names himself.
As Denver cruised to a 64-49 halftime lead, Kenny Smith started to praise the talent Minnesota had at its disposal, especially at the 4 and 5 positions. In his rebuttal, Barkley completely disagreed with Smith. He named Mike Conley (who is “102 years old”) and Anthony Edwards as players he likes but purposely left out Towns and Gobert.
When Smith questioned this excluding opinion, Barkley had a perfect reaction that essentially amounted to “Did I stutter?”
Charles Barkley not a fan of Minnesota and only a fan of Mike Conley and Anthony Edwards 😭 pic.twitter.com/o0qhL448Cz
It’s worth noting that after this discussion, the Timberwolves would get it together and make the Nuggets sweat out the win in the second half. However, it probably had a lot less to do with Towns and a measly 10 points and 12 boards and Gobert being routinely abused by Nikola Jokic in the post.
It was Edwards, the true face of the franchise, dropping 41 points that brought Minnesota back first and foremost. Just like Barkley alluded to while excluding players holding the Timberwolves back.
This is a perfect playoff heckling moment. No notes.
To say the least: It was not the Minnesota Timberwolves’ night in Denver on Sunday.
From the jump, Denver bashed the Timberwolves around, with six Nuggets scoring in double figures as they completely overwhelmed the Western Conference’s No. 8 seed in a 109-80 victory.
One of Minnesota’s lowlights was, unsurprisingly, Rudy Gobert. The center was now almost two games removed from a play-in-game suspension after punching his own teammate Kyle Anderson. Late in the third quarter, after Denver’s Christian Braun got into a scuffle with Anderson, Braun found himself shooting two free throws following a flagrant foul.
Mind you, the game was already out of reach for Minnesota in chasing a 25-point deficit. This didn’t really mean anything:
Things getting chippy featuring Kyle Anderson anew 👀
But it was here that a fan in Denver wanted to ensure Gobert didn’t forget his overaggressive mistake with Anderson. It was here that they tried to instigate another Gobert punch by telling the big man, “You should probably punch him.”
The best part is it’s unclear whether the fan is referring to Braun or Anderson with the “him”!
What incredible work for this heckling fan. Not only do you have the comedic timing, you’re referencing a very topical infamous NBA moment to close the season. Plus, it’s rubbing salt in the wound for Minnesota in an embarrassing loss to start a series.
This deal was about taking the next step, not taking a step backward.
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Rudy Gobert was supposed to take the Minnesota Timberwolves to the next level. A three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Gobert was supposed to slot in next to Karl-Anthony Towns as a big and give Minnesota the vaunted defensive presence it needed. A year after the Timberwolves made the playoffs for the first time in half a decade, Gobert was the missing trade piece from the Utah Jazz.
But sometimes, the puzzle pieces just don’t fit as one, and it’s better to realize that before smashing them together.
None of this should’ve happened. None of this is what the Timberwolves wanted when they added a third bona fide All-Star level player alongside Towns and Anthony Edwards. And it’s not that they got more than they bargained for. They got less. Considerably less.
Not only did Minnesota regress as a team, seemingly trading multiple-game winning streaks with multiple-game losing streaks on a whim, Gobert dropped off on a statistical basis, too.
In his Timberwolves debut campaign, the veteran had the lowest point and rebound totals of his career by at least five years in both instances. His block numbers were the worst since his rookie season in 2013. And a man who was already a liability on offense in Utah had his worst true shooting percentages since 2016.
Whatever Gobert brought to the table defensively — he did help turn Minnesota into a top-10 team in defensive rating — was clearly offset by a man who played like he was on the downswing. What good did the Timberwolves’ improved defense (which only went from 13th to 10th) get them if they’re still on the playoff fringe?
If Minnesota loses on Tuesday night, it can start to reflect on what went wrong with Gobert. Perhaps, in the coming years, he improves and the Timberwolves start to reap the rewards. More likely, they’ll have to try and figure out how to get a mismatched seven-foot piece out of their broken puzzle.
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Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels are two of the best defensive players in the NBA.
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The Minnesota Timberwolves will not have Rudy Gobert or Jaden McDaniels when they face the Los Angeles Lakers in the play-in tournament.
Gobert will serve a team-issued one-game suspension after punching teammate Kyle Anderson during the final game of Minnesota’s regular season. McDaniels is out indefinitely due to a fractured right hand he suffered after punching a wall during the same game.
This is a golden opportunity for the Lakers, who will now have a home game on Tuesday against the shorthanded Timberwolves. If they are able to win the match, they will officially earn the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and advance to the playoffs to face the Memphis Grizzlies.
Gobert is one of the league’s best rim protectors and McDaniels is one of the NBA’s most promising young perimeter defenders.
According to matchup data provided by NBA.com, dating back to the 2018-19 season, only eight players have defended Anthony Davis more often than Gobert. Meanwhile, per data from NBA.com, only six players recorded more possessions defending LeBron James in 2022-23.
James was just 5-for-16 (31.3 percent) on possessions when McDaniels was credited as the nearest defender. He averaged 21.4 points per 100 possessions on these opportunities, which was significantly worse than his average (38.6) this season.
Minnesota allowed an additional 3.82 points per 100 when Gobert and McDaniels were off the floor relative to when they played, via PBPStats. These absences are both incredibly costly for the Timberwolves.
Los Angeles can still make the playoffs even if they lose to Minnesota on Tuesday, but the path becomes much harder. They would face the winner of the New Orleans Pelicans vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder, which means one of those teams would come in hungry after securing a win.
Ultimately, after a roller-coaster ride of a regular season, the Lakers need to take advantage of the gift-wrapped opportunity they were given against the Timberwolves.
The Tip-Off
(Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
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Shortly after Rudy Gobert punched Kyle Anderson, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green posted the exact same tweet that the Minnesota big man sent after the Jordan Poole punch:
“Some people may have forgotten about the tweet, but Green did not.
Green tweeted the same message Gobert shared in October.
Green can famously recite the names of all 34 players who were selected before him in the 2014 NBA Draft. So it shouldn’t surprise us that he has a strong enough memory to recall what people said about him following his fight with Poole.”
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch suggested that “immaturity” has plagued his team throughout the entire season.
Despite actually defeating the Pelicans, the Minnesota Timberwolves had a disastrous final game of the regular season.
Minnesota big man Rudy Gobert was sent home at halftime after an altercation with teammate Kyle Anderson during the second quarter of the game.
But not long before the feud on the bench between Gobert and Anderson, Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels expressed his frustration after he picked up his second foul by punching a wall.
McDaniels missed the remainder of the game with the self-inflicted injury to his hand, and if that sounds bad, it is even more painful when you actually watch the video of him hurting himself.
Jaden McDaniels punched a wall on the way to the locker room 😬
Re: Jaden McDaniel: Time lost for hand fractures depends on the bone(s) broken and the subsequent treatment options (ie. surgery) but any type of fracture is a major setback. The average time lost for isolated metacarpal fractures that require surgery is 41 days (~18 games).
During the post-game press conference, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch suggested that “immaturity” has plagued his team throughout the entire season.
McDaniels’ injury is perhaps the most costly example of that immaturity.
There are only a handful of players who had more possessions defending LeBron James than McDaniels had this season, per NBA.com. Now, the Timberwolves will have to face LeBron’s Lakers without their strongest perimeter defender.
That was obviously not an ideal way to kick off the campaign for the reigning champions, and NBA players were stunned when they saw the video. For example, at the time of the incident, Rudy Gobert tweeted: “Insecurity is always loud.”
Green can famously recite the names of all 34 players who were selected before him in the 2014 NBA Draft. So it shouldn’t surprise us that he has a strong enough memory to recall what people said about him following his fight with Poole.
