Gobert Braces for 7-foot-4 Wembanyama in Spurs Game
The spurs game that Minnesota has been circling brings Rudy Gobert face to face with Victor Wembanyama in a second-round series. Gobert knows the 7-foot-4 Spurs center well, and the Timberwolves enter the matchup with Anthony Edwards still week to week after a left knee bone bruise.
Gobert said he first met Wembanyama when the Spurs star was 13, and the two have stayed close enough for a recent phone call about a water filter at Gobert’s house. That relationship now sits inside a playoff series, with one of the league’s best rim protectors trying to slow a player who was named Defensive Player of the Year and is a finalist for MVP.
Gobert and Wembanyama
“I’ve watched him evolve. I’ve watched the way he works, the way he takes care of himself, his thirst for knowledge,” Gobert said after practice on Saturday, May 2. “I’m very, very proud and very excited to watch him grow every day, to see his work paying off.”
He added that Wembanyama’s rise has not been accidental. “Outside of the talent, he’s someone that is a very unique soul, very unique mind. Nothing is an accident. It’s not an accident he’s having the success he’s having. He’s preparing his mind, preparing his body like I’ve rarely seen someone do.”
The two were teammates on the 2024 French Olympic team, which won a silver medal. That shared background gives Minnesota a clear scouting thread, but it also puts Gobert in the unusual spot of defending a friend he has known for about nine years.
Edwards and Minnesota
Edwards remained a variable for the Wolves on Saturday, May 2, when he was at practice putting up shots while standing still or moving slowly. Chris Finch said the star guard was still week to week, leaving Minnesota to manage the series while waiting on its top scorer’s return.
Jaden McDaniels said the Wolves are already preparing for life without him if needed. “Anytime you can get someone that’s been hurt back, especially Ant, just the gravity that he carries, even him just being on the court will help us out a lot,” McDaniels said. “Whenever he’s ready, I told him we going to hold it down until he gets ready.”
The series comes after Minnesota got through Denver, and Finch also said Ayo Dosunmu was day to day after missing Game 6 of that series with lingering right calf soreness. For the Wolves, the immediate task is simple: handle the Spurs with or without Edwards, and do it against a center who knows Gobert almost as well as any opponent can.
