Rudy Gobert playing for Team France during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Image by Gregory Shamus via Getty Images
France is one step closer to earning the Gold Medal in basketball, after the French national team defeated Germany in the Paris Summer Olympics by a score of 73-69. The win, however, did not come without drama, with some of France’s key players engaging in a clash with the head coach.
The clash comes after a repeated event, as Gobert was essentially benched in France’s previous game against Canada, a game which they won by a score of 82-73. Gobert only played a grand total of three minutes in that game, and now in France’s win over Germany, he only played five minutes.
It was initially reported that Gobert missed time due to an undisclosed finger injury that occurred during practice prior to France’s game versus Canada, leading to Gobert playing limited minutes. However, other angles have surfaced, implying that he may have simply been benched for matchups.
Injury or Not
Following France’s advancement to the Semifinals over Canada, in which head coach Vincent Collet moved Gobert and Evan Fournier to the bench, Gobert was asked about his limited playing time. At that point, he revealed the injury and that he underwent surgery on it on Monday — which conflicted the coach’s statements.
“[Gobert] was injured, and there was also the issue of the matchups,” said Collet. “He was informed about the decision to have him play limited minutes.”
Collet was asked about the injury afterward, to which he revealed that Gobert did not undergo the surgery. Rather, he simply had it looked at by officials, which involved an MRI. He claimed that his decision to bench Gobert was somewhat because of the injury, but mostly due to matchups.
Fournier Supports Gobert
Oddly enough, Evan Fournier did back up Gobert’s statement about having surgery. He stated that Gobert was not supposed to play at all in the game against Canada, but managed to do so anyway.
“First of all, Rudy was not even supposed to play,” said Fournier. “He got a little surgery last night on his finger. Just the fact that he was available to play shows how much this means to him. He’s given us everything he has. We made a little change to the lineup. We adjusted, and we just started better regardless of who was in the lineup. There was a game plan, and we just followed it.”
Gobert touched on the coach’s decision afterward, leaning into the idea that he was possibly benched due to matchups. He recognized that it could have been the reason, but opted to trust the coach and his teammates.
“Some of it was about matchups, things that happened in practice, injuries, things like that. But regardless, that was a really good decision,” Gobert said. “The communication was key. A lot of things happened. I have full trust in my teammates and coaches, and it worked. We see the way we started again tonight. Guys were already ready to play and they set the tone for the game.”
Deeper Drama
The perspectives of the players and that of the coach completely conflicted. Gobert and Fournier were claiming that the surgery did occur, and that the benching was due to injury concerns. But Collet suggested that the surgery never occurred and that the benching was simply due to matchup concerns.
This, naturally, ignited some controversy. Victor Wembanyama, a key member of Team France, attempted to stay neutral on the controversy when asked about it, but echoed a unique sentiment.
“We all had to realize our roles, our history, and the direction we wanted to take,” Wembanyama said. “We had four days, that’s a lot of time to think and fix things. The players were dedicated to fixing everything.”
Wembanyama appeared to suggest that Collet and the Team France coaching staff knew what they were doing when they chose to sit Gobert, implying that it was, indeed, due to matchup concerns. That quote came after the game versus Team Canada, in which Gobert played three minutes, so when Gobert only played five minutes against Germany, it raised suspicions even further.
Draymond Weighs In
Notable instigator Draymond Green had some words to say about it on his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show.” He implied that for Gobert to be taken out of an Olympic game, and due to the conflicting reports, the true story is not known.
“To be taken out of the lineup on any other team in the Olympics as an NBA player, not named Team USA, is kind of crazy,” Green said. “France had a very interesting plot twist going on. Big Rudy Gobert claimed he had surgery on his finger or something. France’s coach said he thought the matchups were an issue…we don’t know what’s true!”
Few teams in this year’s Summer Olympics are more stacked than Team USA and Team France. France has already advanced to the Gold Medal game, where they will take on either USA or Serbia.
Drama often becomes embroidered within legacy when the team it surrounds wins it all. If Team France goes on to win their very first Gold Medal in Olympic Basketball, the drama between its players and coaching staff will become an intriguing footnote in their legacy. But if they go on to lose, the drama will simply become the primary catalyst of their downfall.
