Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert has been suspended for one game without pay after picking up too many flagrant fouls under the NBA’s points system, the league office announced on Monday, Jan. 12.
Gobert entered Sunday’s game between the Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs with five flagrant foul points and then was charged with a flagrant foul 1 with 7:24 remaining in the fourth quarter of Minnesota’s 104-103 win. The call occurred after Gobert was charged with not giving Victor Wembanyama enough space in his landing zone on a 3-point attempt.
If a player at five or six flagrant foul points commits a flagrant 1 foul during a game, he is required to serve an automatic one-game suspension under NBA rules. Gobert, who now has six flagrant foul points, will miss the Timberwolves’ road game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, Jan. 13 as a result of this latest flagrant foul.
Gobert will receive a suspension for each additional flagrant foul he commits the rest of the season. If he’s charged with a flagrant 2 foul, he would have to serve a two-game suspension. If he commits another flagrant 1 foul, it would only be a one-game suspension the first time. However, once a player with seven or more flagrant foul points commits another flagrant foul of either variety, he must serve a two-game suspension.
Gobert, 33, is averaging 11 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in his 13th NBA season. He is shooting a team-best 71.7% from the floor. He finished Sunday’s game with two points and 14 rebounds and did not play much in crunch time after the flagrant foul happened.
“It’s tough, because I try to be contesting shots in the heat of the moment,” Gobert said, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “I don’t think there’s at any time an intention of getting anybody hurt or putting people in dangerous situations. It’s tough. But got to play through it.”
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