The basketball portion of the Olympics got underway this weekend and as the host country, France and Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert were automatic qualifiers. The French national team began their quest for a medal on Saturday against Brazil. Rudy Gobert is one of the key players for France, but after a particularly nasty poster dunk during the game, former NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal reposted a barrage of memes on social media trolling the Timberwolves star.
Gobert was on the receiving end of a poster dunk from Brazil's Maozinha Pereira during France's 78-66 opening win in during the group stage of the Olympics. Getting dunked on as a shot blocked is just something that happens though. It doesn't mean that the played who was dunked on is a bad defensive player.
But Shaquille O'Neal is definitely one to get off his jokes and Rudy Gobert was not spared as Olympics competition got underway. While some of the memes in the post joked about Gobert's defensive acumen, one in particular made fun of Gobert by suggesting he would be working a regular 9-5 job if he wasn't 7-feet tall.
During the game against Brazil, Gobert finished with seven points, three rebounds, one assist and two blocked shots. He was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Rudy Gobert coming off 4th DPOY Award
During his NBA career with the Timberwolves and Utah Jazz, Rudy Gobert has become known as one of the best defensive players in the league. He is coming off his fourth Defensive Player of the Year Award having also won the award in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
But following the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Gobert's defense has come under fire from fans and analysts alike. The one play that everyone can't stop mentioning was during the Western Conference Finals between the Wolves and the Dallas Mavericks. Gobert was switched onto Luka Doncic in the final seconds of Game 2 and Doncic hit the game-winning shot over him.
That's going to happen, good defensive players are going to have their hiccups against good offensive players. But the fact remains that Gobert is indeed one of the top interior defenders in the NBA.
This past season, Gobert appeared in 76 games for the Wolves. He averaged 14.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 2.1 blocked shots with splits of 66.1 percent shooting from the field and 63.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Gobert had a rejuvenated season after a rather lackluster first year with the Wolves in 2022-23.
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