OLYMPIC GAMES
Why doesn’t Rudy Gobert start for the French national basketball team?
Hosts France take on Team USA in the final of the Olympic Men’s Basketball, with tip-off at 3 p.m. ET.
Rudy Gobert is one of the big names of the French men’s basketball team, who take on the Team USA in the final of the Olympics, a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics final from three years ago.
Gobert, a center with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA, is a three-time NBA All-Star and four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2024) but he hasn’t been starting for the French team at the Olympics. Why?
What’s up with Rudy Gobert
Having played 21 minutes per game in the pool section, Gobert is down to just nine minutes in total in the knockout stage against Canada and Germany.
In part Gobert has a ring finger injury, that he picked up at practice last Saturday, but while he had an MRI and was suffering pain, he was definitely able to play, and in fact did. If you’re injured, you don’t play. (Curiously he also claimed at one point he’d had surgery, but French coach Vincent Collet quickly rectified that message, saying it was just an MRI).
The bigger reason behind him spending so much time on the bench (he only played 3:41 against Canada), was tactical decisions from coach Collet. In part, worries about his problems guarding the perimeter. And also, former Boston Celtics forward Guerschon Yabusele has been taking Gobert’s place and working great guns alongside star player Victor Wembanyama. (Check out the other NBA stars on the French team)
Gobert himself explained about the decision against Canada to have limited playing time: “Some of it was about matchups, things that happened in practice, injuries, things like that, but regardless, that was a really good decision.”
Gobert then played just five minutes against Germany in the French semi-final 73-69 win. He managed one attempted shot, one rebound and one assist.
What’s really happening with Gobert?
It looks like Collet, understandably, decided to pivot his team around star player Victor Wembanyama, for the games against Canada and Germany and didn’t think Gobert was the right fit most of the time for these matches. He tended to use offensive-minded players like Mathias Lessort and Guerschon Yabusele at 3 and 4 alongside Wembanyama.
But now it’s time for the Americans in the final, and Collet may decide that facing big Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo, Gobert may be more useful. Let’s see how much time Gobert gets in the gold medal match.