Shaq calls Rudy Gobert the “worst NBA player of all time,” Gobert calls it “sad”
The hatred for Rudy Gobert is out of control.
Shaquille O’Neal is a proud member of the “get off my turf” generation of older players who don’t like the way the NBA game is evolving, and he’s been quick to hate on the game’s current best big men (he’s already started with the stupid “Victor Wembanyama doesn’t play inside enough” nonsense). Shaq’s favorite target has long been Rudy Gobert, and this week during a Q&A session on Complex (which his son posted), Shaq took it to a new level:
When asked who the worst NBA player of all time was, Shaq said without hesitation, “Rudy Gobert.”
“If you sign a $250 million contract, show me $250 million. There’s a reason why I walk funny, why I can’t turn my neck and why I can’t. Because I played for about $120 million. There are guys like him who break the system. They make so much money and they can’t play the f***ing hell. So I don’t respect guys like that.”
Gobert responded by asking why Shaq is so fixated on other people’s money.
It is sad to see someone who has achieved as much as you @SHAQ in both sports and business, another man’s finances and achievements can still serve as a catalyst. I understand the entertainment part, but unlike other people, you don’t need that stuff to stay relevant. https://t.co/KPHs2VmfIb
– Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) 5 September 2024
The hatred for Gobert – from Shaq, other players and some fans – is just exhausting.
Gobert is a deserving Hall of Famer. Minnesota had the NBA’s best defense last season. Does anyone think that will be the case with Karl-Anthony Towns anchoring the zone instead of Gobert? He’s the best basket defender of a generation, and he’s more mobile and better on the perimeter than his critics would like to admit. Much is made of that playoff-winning shot by Luka Doncic on Gobert (and Doncic’s trash talk afterward), but Gobert forced Doncic to make a shot he doesn’t like, a step back to his right, and to Doncic’s credit, he hit it. Good offense beats good defense.
Doncic’s trash talk is a reminder of how much many of his peers simply don’t like Gobert — but part of that hatred is that, to them, Gobert is a problem. There’s a reason Gobert had the best on-off differential (+5) of any Timberwolves player last regular season, and that continued in the playoffs when he had the best or second-best differential on the team in every round. Minnesota is simply better with Gobert on the court, the Timberwolves’ problem in the Western Conference Finals was that their defense collapsed when he was benched.
Gobert is not an elite offensive player, but he has good hands and averaged 12.7 points per game on 65.5% shooting and 11.8 rebounds per game in his career.
Gobert’s struggles in the playoffs have been overstated. Can a team with five outs get him — and the defense built around him as an anchor at the basket — in trouble because they can pull him to the perimeter? Yes. The Clippers did it to him when Gobert was in Utah, but Los Angeles coaches were quick to say that the rest of the perimeter defenders there were so weak and the rotations so slow that they could put Gobert in an impossible situation where he had to either prevent a layup at the basket or an open corner three. There are times when coaches should play Klein against Klein. Maybe that bothers people, but it’s more because they don’t like the way the game is going than it is because of Gobert.
Shaq and everyone else is allowed to have their own opinion, they don’t have to like Gobert. But the worst player of all time? That’s just a lazy “look at me” comment. One we should probably be used to in some circles.
