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The Athletic: Rudy Gobert rises again for the suddenly surging Minnesota Timberwolves

At 33 years old and in his 13th year in the league, the Timberwolves' center is playing as well as he has ever played.

Jon Krawczynski, The Athletic

Editor’s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic here. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams. 

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There are people in the NBA world who will not want to hear this. Some will laugh at the suggestion and scroll through their social media apps to find a clip to point at and chortle. All of that trolling will not be enough to overshadow what has happened in Minnesota this season.

At 33 years old and in his 13th year in the league, Rudy Gobert is playing as well as he has ever played. The metrics are off the charts for the man in the middle of the Timberwolves defense, but what has really been eye-opening of late are the layers to his offensive game that are revealing themselves like a stereogram, one of those two-dimensional pictures you have to stare at before a 3D image starts to take shape.

Slowly but surely, you’re starting to see a behind-the-back pass here and a dribble-drive there. It isn’t overwhelming. He will not be mistaken for Hakeem Olajuwon anytime soon. But as Gobert approaches the golden years of his NBA career, wrinkles are appearing in his game that were never there before, in the best of ways.

I think he’s playing the best basketball he’s ever played for us because he’s doing it at both ends of the floor,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said.

Gobert leads the NBA in field goal percentage, converting a career-high 72.0 percent of his shots. He has more assists (65) than blocked shots (62) for just the second time in his career. No one has thrown down more dunks than his 101 this year, and they are coming with increasing ferocity and aggression.

After Gobert eviscerated Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat on Tuesday for the second time in four days with a 13-point, 16-rebound destruction in Minnesota’s 122-94 victory, the Heat left Target Center humbled by one of the league’s most polarizing players.

“A proud, veteran, winning player,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Rudy Gobert continues to be one of the more underrated players in this league. He knows who he is. He knows how he impacts the game.”

It is far too early to call this some sort of reinvention. But when his teammates watched Gobert take the ball at the top of the 3-point arc in Washington last weekend, rip through against countryman Alexandre Sarr, drive left and throw down a dunk with his left hand, they started to see a version of the big, lumbering center that was unrecognizable to them.

“I’ve been watching Julius Randle, rip-through with the left,” Gobert said with a smile. “Except I dunked that sh-t. I don’t lay it up.”

There were plenty of times earlier in his stint in Minnesota when he would lay it up in that situation. The image of Gobert fumbling with the ball and having his shot attempt rim out has been a lasting one. But those have been fewer and further between this season. He is moving more fluidly and that is starting to resonate with teammates who, frankly, would avoid passing him the ball in the past for fear of him dropping it.

“I think there’s just a peace and just an assuredness,” Randle said. “The head space Rudy’s in, I feel like there’s a difference from last year to this year, and I can just see how he is off the court, how he is on the court, his approach, he’s in attack mode. He’s aggressive. I love seeing that out of him.”

It was fair to wonder if the Wolves had gotten the best they were going to get out of Gobert in the first three years after their blockbuster trade with the Utah Jazz in 2022. He won his record-tying fourth DPOY award in 2023-24, helping the Timberwolves reach the Western Conference finals for the first time in 20 years. He took a small step back defensively last season, when he was named Second Team All-Defensive, an insult to Gobert’s sky-high standards, and saw his points per game (12.0), rebounds (10.9) and blocks (1.4) all drop. But he did get better over the second half of the season and had two huge closeout games in the playoffs to beat the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors on the way to their second conference finals in a row.

For the first time in years, Gobert did not play for the French national team in international play last summer, instead focusing on his body and getting some rest ahead of what he and the team saw as a critical season. He also welcomed back personal neuroscience coach Fernando “Nandes” Pereira this season after the two did not work together last season. Gobert has looked fresher, stronger and more comfortable with the ball in his hands.

Finch has focused on putting Gobert in more actions, including catching the ball in the pocket and making passes out to 3-point shooters, all in an effort to increase the big man’s effectiveness on offense. The coach said Gobert’s core and leg strength has given him better balance and allowed him to make more plays at the rim than he did last season.

“Just playing with force and being decisive,” Gobert said. “Mistakes are part of the game and I think I’ve tried to be too perfect my whole career. A lot of times it slows me down. When you play with that mindset, usually you’re not flowing. You overthink a little bit. Trust my teammates, trust who I am, trust my talent, trust my work and just come in and play basketball.”

Gobert has always viewed the game through an analytical prism. He focuses on the large sample size, the 100 possessions in a game versus an individual play that might go right or wrong. It may be a defense mechanism because it seems like every single mistake he makes is plastered all over social media to the delight of trolls throughout the league.

“It’s juvenile, honestly,” Finch said. “Some of the negative narrative around Rudy, I never understand it. He’s a guy that’s going to help you win, he’s about winning, he’s a great teammate, he’s been an incredible professional. He’s everything you want in setting an example for young players. All you have to do is look at his winning percentage since he’s come to America. It’s pretty high.”

Since becoming a full-time starter in Utah in 2015-16, Gobert’s teams have a .603 winning percentage (505-332) in the regular season. He has had only one losing season.

In 37 games this season, the Wolves have been outscored in Gobert’s minutes only nine times. He has been on the plus side 11 times in 14 games over the last month.

The biggest reason for that, of course, is his defense. The Timberwolves are a staggering 16.2 points per 100 possessions better on defense with him on the floor than off this season, per Cleaning the Glass. That’s the best mark of his career and the best number in the league for any player who has logged at least 400 minutes.

The season is not yet half over, and the word of Gobert’s dominance has clearly not spread to the rest of the league. When the Wolves played in Miami on Saturday, Adebayo got the ball in the paint, made a quick move and was fouled by Gobert. Television cameras caught Adebayo snarling dismissively.

“He can’t f—ing guard me,” he said.

At the time of that play, Adebayo had seven points on 3-of-9 shooting and the Heat were down 58-52. From that point forward, the unguardable Adebayo erupted for five points on 2-of-4 shooting, two rebounds and two turnovers against Gobert, who put up 13 points and 12 rebounds in the Timberwolves’ 125-115 victory.

Three nights later, Adebayo had his chance at revenge in a game in Minnesota. He tried Gobert again. It did not go well.

Adebayo had seven points on 3-of-11 shooting.

“Defensive Player of the Year,” Julius Randle said. “Simple as that.”

Well, not quite. Gobert likely faces a steep uphill climb with voters for a fifth trophy, which would give him more than any other player in league history. Even with his recent success in the playoffs, Gobert still faces harsh critics and serious doubters about his ability to play deep into the postseason. They hesitate at the thought of voting for him and then being mocked when a generational scorer hits one shot over him in a big playoff game.

But the bigger issue has always been his offense. Gobert has not been equipped to punish opponents for switching smaller players onto him near the rim, which allows teams to more easily double Anthony Edwards on the perimeter. All of the work the Wolves are doing to incorporate him in the offense through the first few months of the season is aimed at making him more of a threat in May and June.

Perhaps the most encouraging part of Gobert’s strong start to the season is the caution with which he speaks about it. He is taking no victory laps. He knows the season is long and struggles will invariably come, either now or in the playoffs.

“I’m not really assessing how I am playing,” he said. “I’m more present and focused on being in the moment and just focused on the work that I put in every day and try to help my team win games.”

Gobert will have doubters until the day that championship trophy is in his hands. The odds may be long for these Timberwolves, but one thing is certain. They need Gobert playing like this to have any chance at it at all.

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Jon Krawczynski is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Minnesota Timberwolves, the NBA and the Minnesota Vikings. Jon joined The Athletic after 16 years at The Associated Press, where he covered three Olympics, three NBA Finals, two Ryder Cups and the 2009 NFC Championship Game. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonKrawczynski

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