Rudy Gobert has officially apologized after going Balboa on one of his teammates.
The Minnesota Timberwolves big Gobert was involved in a surreal incident during Sunday’s regular season finale against the New Orleans Pelicans.
During a timeout huddle in the second quarter, Gobert exchanged words with teammate Kyle Anderson and stepped over their head coach Chris Finch in order to punch Anderson. You can see the video here.
Gobert, who was sent home by the Timberwolves for the rest of the game as punishment, tweeted a public apology several hours later.
“Emotions got the best of me today,” the former Defensive Player of the Year wrote. “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.”
The Timberwolves would actually go on to win the game 113-108 to rise to No. 8 in the Western Conference (setting up a 7-8 play-in tournament game with the L.A. Lakers).
But Gobert’s punch may have larger implications — ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the center could potentially be given a team suspension for that play-in game against the Lakers.
Gobert is already being clowned around the NBA for his swing and probably deserves it. But some context has also emerged as to why Gobert might have reacted to Anderson the way that he did.
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