Coming off his fourth Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert was primed for an impressive run at the 2024 Olympics in his home country.
France is in the gold medal game, but Gobert is seemingly nowhere to be found on the court. The 7-foot defensive specialist has mostly been a non-factor for the French men's national team in Olympic play.
Head coach Vincent Collet removed Gobert and Evan Fournier from the starting lineup for the team's quarterfinal match against Canada. He kept the same starting five for the semifinals against Germany. Gobert played just nine minutes over those two games, but France won both to advance to the gold medal match.
Rudy Gobert hasn’t had much of an impact for France in their two medal-round games. pic.twitter.com/f7kcLb7WuI
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) August 8, 2024
Here's a closer look at Gobert's stats and why he's playing so few minutes at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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Rudy Gobert stats at 2024 Olympics
Gobert doesn't always fill up the stat sheet like other NBA stars as he's a defensive specialist who serves primarily as a screener and roller on offense. Also, player's stats are typically lower during international play compared to their NBA averages. There's less time in Olympic games and NBA players don't always have the entire offense run through them.
Gobert is a victim of both of these claims in addition to his limited minutes in the knockout stage. He's playing just 14.5 minutes per game out of a possible 40 minutes.
| Player | GP | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| Rudy Gobert | 5 | 14.5 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 66.7% | N/A | 28.6% |
Why France benched Rudy Gobert
Gobert was expected to play a major role for the French men's national team at the 2024 Olympics. Between him and Victor Wembanyama, France had arguably one of the best frontcourts in international play.
Five games in, France is eyeing a gold medal in front of the hometown fans without much production from Gobert. It's rare that the four-time Defensive Player of the Year isn't a factor, let alone not even be on the floor.
France used two different starting lineups in the group stage but opted to bench Gobert in the quarterfinal due to unfavorable matchups against Canada. The Canadian team posed a significant perimeter threat, prompting France's coach to play Gobert limited minutes.
"Small ball," Collet said of the starting five changes. "I wanted Wemby to start at position five. [Guerschon] Yabusele at position 4. The second change was Cordinier for Evan Fournier because I wanted to start with a defensive starting five."
Collet also benched Gobert against Germany in the semifinals, and France pulled off the upset. Germany defeated France in group play, a game in which Gobert started.
The decision to limit Gobert's minutes was initially jarring as he's one of France's best players, but it's paid dividends to keep him off the floor.
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Is Rudy Gobert injured?
After France upset Canada in the quarterfinals, Gobert told the media that he suffered a left ring finger injury that required surgery. He added that he underwent surgery and was "thankful" he could play some minutes during the quarterfinals, per The Athletic's Sam Amick.
Collet, however, had a different story.
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France's head coach told reporters that Gobert didn't have surgery, but he did have an MRI, per The Athletic.
"But finally, this morning, [Gobert] said, 'I can play,'" Collet said. "But my idea was to protect him if I could do it, [and] I wanted to have him on the bench. As it was working well with the other big men, I prefer to keep him on the bench and he will be ready for the next game."
It's uncertain how severe Gobert's injury is and what his status will be for the gold medal game. If fully healthy, he could play a major role in slowing down a talented USA squad with Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo leading the front court.