LOS ANGELES — Rudy Gobert had a lot on his mind as he and his agent engaged in contract extension talks with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the days leading up to the season opener.
He was entering what could have been the final season of his contract. He had a player option for almost $47 million for 2025-26. In a moment of uncommon candidness for a player of his caliber, Gobert said he knew that number was untenable if he was going to stay in Minnesota and have a competitive team to chase that elusive title.
After a tough first season in Minnesota, he has been embraced by the fan base and has always had the full support of the organization, which is no small thing for a player who seems to routinely find himself the subject of derision from around the league. His son was born in Minnesota last spring, and he believes he has a real chance to win a championship with this team. Gobert did not want to leave, but he knew that staying would mean taking a significant pay cut.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, teams and players have to make harder decisions when it comes to contract terms. The penalties are so much more now than just a fat luxury tax bill. Teams above the dreaded second apron, as the Timberwolves are, have to build their rosters with one hand tied behind their back. They cannot aggregate players in trades to make salaries match. They have almost no wiggle room when it comes to the money they are sending out and the money they are receiving in a trade. Stay above the apron long enough and a first-round pick from seven years down the road is frozen at the bottom of the first round.
Gobert turned 32 this summer. He has only played for two teams and is not interested in puddle jumping at this point in his career to chase a championship, especially when he could take steps to increase Minnesota’s chances of being that team to break through. If he exercised his player option, he would maximize his earnings. But he also would hinder the Wolves’ chances at re-signing teammates like Naz Reid, Julius Randle and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
So Gobert and his agent, Bouna Ndiaye, searched for what the center called “a win-win.”
“My next year contract was really high,” Gobert said. “So being able to allow the team to keep our guys, that was the win for the Timberwolves. But being able to keep me for a longer term was great for both of us.”
In the days leading up to the opener against the Los Angeles Lakers, as other extensions were getting done around the league, it appeared for a time that the Wolves and Gobert would not be able to find common ground. Gobert wanted a four-year deal, but the Wolves were finding it difficult to make that work on a team that also needed to address several other contracts on their books.
Gobert thought about what he wanted the later years of his career to look like. He has immense respect for coach Chris Finch, who has backed him from the moment he arrived. He believes in Anthony Edwards as the megawatt star who can spearhead a title team. He knows that Jaden McDaniels and Alexander-Walker give him defensive help on the perimeter that he has never had before. He knows that Mike Conley understands him better than any point guard in the league.
So on Tuesday, with just a few moments to spare before the Wolves took the court against the Lakers, Gobert agreed to a new three-year, $110 million contract extension that includes a player option for the third year. The deal takes off the table that $47 million player option, replacing it with a longer contract at a significantly lower annual number.
“It’s never been about money, but even more at this point in my career, it’s about being where I feel at home and where I can win championships,” Gobert said. “These guys, from players to coaches to organization embrace me and believed in me and gave me the opportunity to be the best version of myself on and off the court, and also make me grow.”
Gobert had the luxury of taking a deal like this because he has made over $210 million in the last seven years, an incredible amount for a person who came from a poor background in France, was drafted 27th overall and started his career in the developmental league before becoming a multi-time All-Star. He knows that there are several of his teammates who have yet to score the truly big payday, and this extension could help them do just that.
“Every time I sign a contract I always try to leave a little bit for the team,” Gobert said. “(I’m) able to realize that I’m grateful being able to earn what I’m earning coming from where I come from. It’s an amazing blessing. At the same time being able to not be too greedy and leave some on the table for our competitiveness as a team.”
Gobert’s decision was not lost on his teammates. From the moment he arrived from Utah in a heavily debated trade, Gobert has preached the importance of valuing wins above all else. Now he’s walking the walk, too.
“For him to think about the next person, that’s dope,” said Reid, who has a player option for next season on the three-year deal he signed in 2023. “That’s really unselfish. I know a lot of people wouldn’t do that, but he would. He’s showing it now. I’m happy that he’s thinking about me and this team. That means he wants to win.”
Now that his contract is finalized, Gobert can put all of his focus on the court. He was a huge reason the Timberwolves had the No. 1 defense in the league last season and advanced to the Western Conference finals for just the second time in franchise history.
But all of that was last season. The Wolves were wiped out by Dallas in the conference finals and now are working to integrate two new faces — Randle and Donte DiVincenzo — on the fly after they traded Karl-Anthony Towns to New York just before training camp.
Their 110-103 loss to the Lakers on opening night shows how much work is left to be done on that front.
No one looked comfortable on either end of the floor, and Anthony Davis torched Minnesota’s front court in a dispiriting performance for a Wolves team with such high expectations.
“Not a very good representation of ourselves,” Finch said. “I thought we were soft. I thought at times we were selfish. We didn’t execute a lot of things we talked about doing.”
The Wolves play in Sacramento on Thursday night before coming back to Minnesota for their home opener against Toronto on Saturday.
“The goal is still the same, regardless of if we had the deal or not,” Gobert said. “The goal is to win the championship. Whatever it takes to keep building and also keep doing great things for the community.”
(Photo of Rudy Gobert: Garrett Ellwood / NBAE via Getty Images)
