Rudy Gobert punches teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout
In the world of professional sports, just like any other job, tempers can flare from time to time between co-workers. On Sunday afternoon with his team trailing the New Orleans Pelicans by double digits, Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert threw a punch at his teammate, Kyle Anderson. The NBA Playoffs are just around the corner. Every game from here on out is really important for most teams. Watching two of their players get into a heated altercation is surely not the sight Timberwolves executives wanted to see.
Check out the footage of the heated altercation below. It happened in the second quarter, with Minnesota trailing the Pelicans 48-36 with 4:23 remaining in the second quarter.
Both players had to be separated in the heated altercation.
Following the scuffle, the Timberwolves decided to send Gobert home early, per Shams Charania. He will not play the rest of the game. This season for the Timberwolves, even though his production has dipped slightly, Gobert has been a dominant force the team expected him to be. He’s been averaging 13.6 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, while blocking 1.4 shots per game.
He’s long been one of the elite defenders in the NBA since he joined the league in 2013, after being acquired by the Utah Jazz. Gobert is 30 years old and was brought to Minnesota this offseason, after the Timberwolves acquired him in a blockbuster deal.
On Sunday afternoon following the incident, Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune posted a tweet about a story he was working on about Kyle Anderson’s leadership and his blunt way of talking to his teammates. When he recently spoke to Gobert about Anderson, here’s what he had to say.
“Kyle wants to win, and sometimes he’s a little aggressive in the way he talks, but I don’t take it personally. I receive it in a positive way because it comes from a place of wanting me to be the best Rudy I can be and wanting us to win. I love his competitiveness, love the way he plays the game. The way he makes others around him better. He’s been a huge part of this year,” Gobert said.
The superstar big man has been one of the most dominant forces in the league for much of his career, averaging a double-double for seven seasons thus far. He spent from 2013-2022 with the Utah Jazz. For his career, he’s averaged 12.5 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game. He’s been named NBA Defensive Player of the Year three times during his career (2018, 2019, and 2021).
The Timberwolves team in general seemed to be self-destructing on Sunday, as Gobert wasn’t the only player who had an early exit. Jaden McDaniels punched a wall so hard that he couldn’t come back into the game.
Check out the footage of that one below.
Whatever the issues in their locker room may be, the Timberwolves players better get them figured out and figured out fast, or else they’ll likely have an early exit in the upcoming playoffs.