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Ahead of Tuesday night's season opener against the James Family and the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert signed a three-year, $110 million contract extension, keeping the big Frenchman in the Twin Cities through the 2027-28 season. This extension will bring Gobert's guaranteed career earnings in the NBA up to a whopping $371 million, which is the 20th-most in league history, per HoopsHype.
Needless to say, this doesn't sit well with many folks. First, there's the All athletes are overpaid crowd, which is likely in a tizzy right now with NBA salaries continuing to explode. Then there are Gobert's contemporaries who don't necessarily value what the high-priced center brings to the table on a nightly basis. And then there is a large group of former players — sup, Shaq? — whose career accomplishments have been overshadowed in some respect by the Timberwolves center's career earnings.
Consider eight-time All-NBA center Dwight Howard one of those former players.
During an appearance on the Gil's Arena Podcast, Dwight Howard and Gilbert Arenas reacted to Rudy Gobert's extension, and Howard even made a plea to the Minnesota Timberwolves to consider bringing him in at a much lower price than the Wolves are paying Gobert.
“Minnesota, y’all could have gave me 10 mil,” Howard said during his podcast appearance. “They couldn’t have gave me 10 mil for the rest of the season?”
This is not the first time Dwight Howard has made comments critical of Rudy Gobert on Gil's Arena. In fact, back in August, Howard was even more overt with his Gobert criticisms, saying that the four-time Defensive Player of the Year was unworthy of winning the award in the past. It should be mentioned that with a fourth Defensive Player of the Year Award win, Gobert passed Dwight Howard's career total.
Timberwolves continue making big bets on Rudy Gobert
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The Minnesota Timberwolves' first big bet on Rudy Gobert came in July 2022, when the team traded five players and a staggering five 1st Round picks for the 30-year-old center. It was a bet that was met with the same reaction that someone would receive if they decided to hit on 19 while playing Blackjack… complete and utter confusion, with a sprinkling of anger, if only because this price tag was going to make it nearly impossible to trade for a player of greater stature than Gobert.
Fortunately for the Wolves, this bet has thus far paid off. Minnesota has made the postseason in each of Gobert's two seasons there, and last year, for just the second time in franchise history, the Timberwolves made the Western Conference Finals. But even then, the Gobert addition was met with criticism, as multiple players went Gobert-hunting throughout the postseason, including Luka Doncic, who nailed a game-winner over the Defensive Player of the Year.
The Timberwolves doubled-down on Gobert just weeks before the 2024-25 season, trading Karl-Anthony Towns away to the New York Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Perhaps there's an alternate read on why Minnesota made the deal, but one would assume that part of the reason they did so is because they didn't feel the Towns/Gobert two-big lineup didn't give them their best chance to contend for a title.
In reality, there's probably nothing Gobert could do to turn the tide back in his favor. Even if Minnesota were to win an NBA Title during his time with the Timberwolves, the majority of the credit would deservedly be given to Anthony Edwards. The narrative may even become that the Wolves win the title despite the fact they crippled their future by trading for Rudy Gobert.
But at least Gobert has $371 million in the bank… much to the dismay of Dwight Howard and Shaquille O'Neal.
