Gobert Faces Possible Suspension, Says He's Treated Differently

When Rudy Gobert was whistled for a Flagrant-1 foul during Minnesota's win over Dallas on Friday night, he may have effectively taken himself out of the lineup for Sunday's game against Philadelphia.

Gobert, who had 22 points, 17 rebounds, and three blocks in Minnesota's 122-111 win, earned his seventh flagrant foul point of the season when he extended his right arm into the neck of Marvin Bagley III. Crew chief Josh Tiven announced over the Target Center speakers that Gobert's action was "an unnecessary flail."

With seven flagrant points this season, Gobert is likely to be suspended for Sunday's game. It would be his second flagrant-related suspension after he missed the Jan. 13 game against the Milwaukee Bucks after picking up his sixth flagrant point of the season.

Gobert is hopeful that the league will review the play and rescind the flagrant foul from his record.

“Hopefully they’ll look at it and they’ll see that it was just an accident,” Gobert said. “Maybe they can switch it to a tech. We’ll see.”

There are two types of flagrant fouls. A Flagrant-1 is worth one point, and a Flagrant-2 is worth two points and comes with an automatic ejection and a fine of at least $2,000. Once a player gets to four flagrant points, they receive a one-game suspension.

• Flagrant 1: "Unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent."
• Flagrant 2: "Unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent."

But with seven flagrant points, Gobert has reached a dangerous territory where every additional flagrant point could result in a two-game suspension. According to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski, eight flagrant points trigger a two-game suspension, "and every foul after that woudl be another two-game absence."

Wolves head coach Chris Finch said Friday night that he'd like to see the game called both ways, suggesting that Gobert gets an unfair whistle.

“Seemingly every time Rudy gets clocked in the head and the face, which is quite a bit, it’s always just, ‘Ah that’s just two guys, play on. It’s nothing,’” Finch said. “But yet the other way around, we seem to be penalized for it.”

Gobert agreed.

“The thing with that is that I get hit in the head almost every game, and I never get flagrants,” Gobert said. “But when sometimes, inadvertently, I hit somebody in the head, they never miss. They’re always very hard on me with that, especially when it’s not intentional.”

“Guys are coming at me every night, hitting me in the face, grabbing me,” Gobert continued. “They purposely foul me. That was like five times tonight. Run into my knees trying to box me out. All these plays are dangerous, and I’m fine with it, you know? But it’s really hard when you get super penalized, and people can do anything without accountability on me. So hopefully they look at that and make it a little more fair.”