Jeff Teague Trashes Rudy Gobert’s DPOY After Meme-Worthy Defense of Nikola Jokic; “That’s Cap!”

Before the series between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves tied 3-3, Nikola Jokić won his third MVP title and Rudy Gobert his fourth DPOY award. You can’t help but observe if the individual offense and defense are at the player-best. Former Wolves star, Jeff Teague has had a lot to say since Gobert won the title and has tried hard to justify it against the ‘Joker’ simultaneously. It translated into some jabs at the reigning DPOY on his show, Club 520 Podcast this week.

Jeff Teague’s response to Gobert winning 2024 Defensive Player of the Year was, “That’s cap!” But he also added that every time he hears about it, he thinks back to the recent meme going around. “They show this the meme you ever seen when Jokic was like ‘brother I have 47 points.'” 

This piece of Internet hilarity originated in the 2020-21 season, the year Teague won his only title with the Bucks. Then with the Utah Jazz and two DPOY wins to his name, Gobert had a fleeting moment of trash talk with Jokic during the game. Jokic was not MVP yet but was getting there scoring a career-high 47 points in that game despite Gobert guarding him one-on-one. Nuggets’ Jamal Murray later disclosed that Gobert was confidently telling his team, “I got him, I got him.” But, “Jok has the ball and he goes, ‘Brother, I have 47.’ I was like, ‘you’re a savage bro,” Murray narrated and created the best piece of basketball meme.

That surfaced as Gobert and Jokic are once again opponents in these semis. Teague notices that the ‘Stifle Tower’ is falling into the same routine of guarding Jokic one-on-one when his skills could be used elsewhere. He thinks Karl Anthony Towns, Naz Reid, and Kyle Anderson could do a better job. “Let him [Gobert] be the help defender, bro. He can’t guard him [Jokic] one on one.”

His co-hosts also point out that Gobert seems to have something to prove staying on Jokic. As of Gobert’s one-sided tactics, Club 520 noticed an imbalance in the two centers.

Jeff Teague says DPOY is playing right into Denver’s hands

When the Wolves lost Game 5, Teague ripped into Gobert for not only being on Jokic’s tail but also failing to guard him effectively. He’s so stuck in his ways, that the Nuggets effectively exploited it as noted by the 2021 champ. He went on to cast doubt on the validity of Gobert’s fourth DPOY title.

He reiterated that when Draymond Green or Dwight Howards won DPOY during his playing career, they’d stay far away from them. “They getting the switch for Rudy… they run a screen to get Rudy onto Jokic.”

He was not the only one to criticize Gobert. While everyone sees Jokic gain new vigor from the MVP win, Gobert has been fumbling since Game 5. Most observers think he needs to reduce his role than guard the unstoppable ‘Joker’. Maybe no one showed Gobert that meme.