CHAOS! Minnesota T’wolves Star Rudy Gobert Punches His Own Teammate in Huddle, While Another Teammate Breaks His Hand Punching a Wall
Despite ending the regular season with a win heading into the NBA play-in games, the Minnesota Timberwolves may have ruined their postseason chances when the team completely imploded on the bench.
In the Wolves’ 113-108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, center Rudy Gobert – who the internet widely blames for pausing the league’s 2020 season – and forward Kyle Anderson got into a shouting match during a second-quarter timeout. Gobert then punched Anderson in the chest and the two were immediately separated by their teammates.
NBA insider Shams Charania reported shortly after the incident that the Wolves sent Gobert home. According to one source in an ESPN report, Gobert threw the punch after Anderson told him, “Shut the fuck up, bitch.”
Making matters worse was the revelation that forward Jaden McDaniels broke his hand earlier when he punched a wall in the tunnel. He seemingly did it out of frustration for picking up his second foul in the first quarter.
On Sunday evening, Gobert made a statement via Twitter.
“Emotions got the best of me today,” he said. “I should not have reacted the way i did regardless of what was said. I wanna apologize to the fans, the organisation and particularly to Kyle, who is someone that i truly love and respect as a teammate.”
As the eighth seed in the Western Conference, the Wolves will face the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the play-in tournament. The winner will clinch the seventh seed in the playoffs, while the loser will face the winner of the other play-in matchup for the eighth and final playoff spot. In the event that Gobert is disciplined by the team and misses the Lakers game, Minnesota will be without its best post defender in Gobert and its best perimeter defender in McDaniels.
