Charles Barkley calls for Rudy Gobert suspension after $100,000 fine

Barkley thinks that Gobert should be suspended because the implication of Gobert's gesture is dangerous for the NBA.

Charles Barkley believes the NBA isn't penalizing Minnesota Timberwolves' center Rudy Gobert adequately for his remarks and behaviors against officials. The NBA recently imposed a $100,000 fine on Gobert for “making an inappropriate and unprofessional gesture towards a game official and openly criticizing the officiating.”

Rudy Gobert gets a technical foul for making money gestures 😅pic.twitter.com/B52BQmIeBJ

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 9, 2024

Gobert was called for a technical foul in the closing seconds of regulation Friday night in the Timberwolves’ 113-104 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers when he rubbed his fingers together several times, the so-called money sign that he directed toward Foster. In postgame comments, he stood by his actions.

“I’ll bite the bullet again. I’ll be the bad guy. I’ll take the fine, but I think it’s hurting our game. I know the betting and all that is becoming bigger and bigger, but it shouldn’t feel that way.”

“I thought he should have been suspended. … The one thing we can never do in sports is make people think it’s fixed.”

Chuck and the fellas discuss Rudy Gobert being fined $100K for directing a ‘money sign' gesture toward a game official pic.twitter.com/GsP50GcP8n

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 15, 2024

The TNT Inside The NBA crew discussed Rudy Gobert and his substantial fine on Thursday, with Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkly having interesting takes on the incident.

“I thought he should've got suspended,” Barkley boldly said at the start of the conversation, much to the disagreement of O'Neal, who said, “Oh, stop it. You're going too far. Stop it.”

Barkely explained his point, “The one thing we can never do in sports, ever, is make people think [that the game is fixed]. if we ever get to the point, any sport, if they found out it will ruin the sport, it will ruin the sport of people thought it was fixed. And they fined Luka Duncic. They had fined Rudy Gobert before. I thought they should have suspended him.”

Although Kenny Smith disagreed with the notion of suspending Gobert, he believed that he should've been fined.

“The integrity of the game is the most solid thing that you can have and so when you put that in question by an actual player, then…”

Barkely cut Smith off to point out that the incident that led to Gobert being called for an offensive foul was, indeed, the right call as he made significant contact with Jarrett Allen as he attempted to grab a rebound off of the missed Anthony Edwards shot.

“Kenny…tell this fool that this is a foul. This is a foul!”

Significant concerns surrounding NBA officiating

Barkley's comments and Gobert's actions add to the ongoing discussion on NBA officiating, which has been a major focus this season. Fans, players, and media have criticized officiating trends, leading to calls for Adam Silver to address and alleviate concerns.

Tony Kornheiser thinks the NBA is facing “a crisis” after Rudy Gobert's comments insinuating referee Scott Foster was fixing a game pic.twitter.com/MLo8iP9sT9

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 12, 2024

Pardon The Interruption host Tony Kornheiser, believes that Gobert's actions leads to a bigger concern for the league at large and his comments mirrored Barkley's

“I believe Adam Silver has a crisis right now. “(Gobert) is saying the guy is taking money. There’s an integrity to the game. You can say he’s joking, you can say he doesn’t believe it, but he’s saying it. And Adam Silver has this in the closet with Tim Donaghy. So you’ve got to go out there and make sure the public doesn’t think (he’s right). In hindsight, I’m not sure the fine was enough.”