It’s a tough task to be Rudy Gobert in the last few days. The 4x DPOY awardee barely got any minutes on the two crucial games in France’s road to the Olympic Finals. Instead, 20-year-old rising star, Victor Wembanyama, who is playing his first Olympics, has spearheaded Les Bleus. Following Rudy’s awkward situation after not getting minutes, the hoops community didn’t hesitate to troll the big man. Now, former Golden State Warriors star, Gilbert Arenas, has joined the party with an unsparing dig at Gobert.

In the latest episode of Gil’s Arena, the host brought out Gobert’s subject and highlighted coach Vincent Collet’s decision to reduce his time on the court. In the last two games, which were the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the big man played a total of 8 minutes. Out of these minutes, the host also highlighted an interesting stat. Gobert played only 2 seconds in the fourth quarter out of those 8 minutes.

Reacting to it, Gilbert Arenas sprung out of his chair to troll the Minnesota Timberwolves center. He said, “It was a good two seconds too. He came for a free throw and it was an accidental two seconds should have been one second,” with a straight face.

And Rudy couldn’t clock out immediately because the team didn’t have a time out to call, so they had to spend an extra second to foul a player. While the media was all over the star center, including the Frenchman’s archrival Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert didn’t make any controversial statement, apart from a diplomatic one-liner after the quarter-final game. He just said, “I have full trust in my teammates and coaches. It worked.” Recent times haven’t been too kind to the big man.

Rudy Gobert rolling down a slippery slope

The French big man didn’t just face the heat in the Paris Olympics. He has been under the radar since the 2024 NBA postseason. It started when he won his fourth DPOY, as many criticized that Victor Wembanyama deserved to win it. Following that, he had an underwhelming run in the post-season. Firstly, facing the defending champions, the big man struggled to stop the Nikola Jokić force.

There were many instances of Jokic getting the better of Gobert and heavily dampened his DPOY honor. Nevertheless, the Wolves somehow managed to beat the Nuggets in Game 7 and took on the Dallas Mavericks in the Conference Finals. This time, it was Luka Doncic who left Gobert gasping for breath. Especially, the visuals of Doncic sinking a three-point over the big man in a game-winner went viral on social media.

Apart from that, Draymond Green, who joined the TNT crew during the postseason, went after his arch-rival, constantly trashing him. Notably, Green has continued it even now. Following the reduced minutes’ debate, the Dubs star picked up his mic and described the situation as “crazy”, as he couldn’t believe whose words to believe. The French coach revealed that he had benched Gobert for match-up reasons, while the big man pointed at his injured finger.

“According to Rudy, it’s because of his finger. We don’t know what is true. I don’t think we have any reason to believe Rudy is lying except for the coach saying that it was for matchups,” Draymond Green concluded.

Nevertheless, will Vincent Collet play him against Team USA in the much-anticipated Finals? Let us know in the comments.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.