Rudy Gobert is one of the best players in the league and is most well-known for his rim protection and rebounding. He averaged 15.6 PPG, 14.7 RPG, and 1.1 APG for the Utah Jazz during the 2021-22 season.
This summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded for Rudy Gobert, giving up five players and five picks in the process. They will pair him up with All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns, and Alex Caruso noted that the two will be a great fit with one another.
“It reminds me a lot of the LA team when we won the championship. We would start AD at the 4 and save his body a little bit by not having to bang with centers for the whole season. 82 games is a grind, going through the trenches every night, having to set screens, hit guys, rebound, run, and block shots. It just reminds me of having JaVale and Dwight to do some of that dirty work.”
“The fit is great because Gobert does all the things that KAT doesn’t do really well and KAT does things Gobert doesn’t do well. It’s a good mesh and it’ll be interesting to see how it works.”
While the Rudy Gobert trade was obviously a good move for the Minnesota Timberwolves, there is the question of whether they gave up too much to acquire the center.
NBA Executives Blame The Minnesota Timberwolves For Wrecking The Trade Market
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype has recently revealed that executives around the league believe that the Minnesota Timberwolves trading for Rudy Gobert “messed up” the trade market. The executives felt as though “Minnesota overpaid to get Gobert”, and noted that this is a reason “it took a while” for his co-star Donovan Mitchell to get traded.
When you talk to executives around the league, they always point to that Gobert trade as a trade that messed up the market. Several executives I spoke to felt that Minnesota overpaid to get Gobert… That’s one of the reasons it took a while with the Donovan Mitchell trade talks. Once the market was set for Gobert, Utah wanted to get equal to that or better for Mitchell.
Obviously, when it comes to competing for a championship, teams are often willing to give up a lot to add talent to their roster. This trade was worth it for the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, the Rudy Gobert trade definitely messed things up for other teams, as it increased the value of players like Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant.
Hopefully, we see the Minnesota Timberwolves find success next season. They should be a dangerous team in the Western Conference, and perhaps we’ll even see them make the NBA Finals.
