The bench brawl between Rudy Gobert e Kyle Anderson featured in the NBA regular season finale.
During the first half of the game between Minnesota and New Orleans, later won 113-108 by the Timberwolves, a fight broke out on the T’Wolves bench. Gobert punched Anderson and then remained in the locker room for the rest of the match. The French center also suffered a brief suspension and will miss the play-in against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Immediately, rumors broke out about the motives of the quarrel. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the whole thing allegedly arose for technical reasons: Anderson allegedly asked Gobert to be more intimidating near the iron, the Frenchman allegedly asked his teammate to put more effort into rebounding. Anderson would actually repeatedly apostrophize the center with “bitch.” (in this case the term would be the equivalent of the Italian “pussy”) and hence Gobert’s physical reaction.
ESPN Sources: Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert escalated a verbal argument to a physical encounter after Kyle Anderson told him to “Shut the f- up, bitch.” The disagreement started with Anderson telling Gobert to block some shots, Gobert telling him to grab a rebound — and ended with a…
– Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 9, 2023
The Frenchman, who against the Pelicans had taken the field despite a injury to his back, commented on a post Instagram by Bleacher Report denying this reconstruction of the facts.
Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, however, reiterated it and also explained the reasons why the Timberwolves opted for such a light penalty. First, the insult was deemed a mitigating factor, then Minnesota management assessed that the punch was not thrown to hurt. Probable then that Gobert’s sudden repentance, via a message on a team chat, weighed in.
The Timberwolves had to suspend Gobert for throwing a punch, but accepted that it was a shot to chest with no intent to injure Kyle Anderson and understood that Anderson called Gobert a “bitch” repeatedly on a night Gobert was playing hurt, sources tell ESPN.
– Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 10, 2023
Gobert later sent an apologetic text to teammates in a group chat, per Mike Conley. “We’ll speak about it and move on,” he said. “We’re grown men.”
– Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 9, 2023
In any case, Gobert, who as mentioned will not be employed against the Lakers in the first Play-In game, did not travel to Los Angeles with the team.
Gobert will serve a one-game suspension and is expected to return if the Wolves lose to the Lakers and play another play-in game, or advance into the Western Conference playoffs, sources said. https://t.co/JMSdwm7P2o
– Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 10, 2023
