Rudy Gobert signed a five-year, $205m contract extension with the Utah Jazz in December, marking the largest ever for a center.
Friday 22 January 2021 15:40, UK
It's telling that the most vocal critic of the five-year $205m contract extension Rudy Gobert signed with the Jazz in December, the third-largest in NBA history and the largest ever dished out to a center, is none other than Shaquille O'Neal.
The former Lakers star has taken numerous swipes at Gobert in recent weeks. First by deeming him the 'Baguette Biyombo', a grievous insult whichever way you look at it, before telling all the young kids at home to watch Gobert specifically because 'if you do what he can do, you can get $200m'. Shaq even went on to add that if 11 points per game earns you that amount, then 'Jokic should get $600m'.
Then there's this Instagram post, complete with pulsating photoshop of O'Neal dunking over the 28-year-old Frenchman (something that, as Zion Williamson discovered earlier this week, is much easier said than done). Remarkable in the very worst sense.
This is, of course, all typical Shaq fare. He has long since made it his raison d'être to constantly belittle what he considers to be an inferior class of big men in the modern NBA, with some of his most notable victims including Javale McGee, Al Horford, and Dwight Howard. It is, however, hard to take his comments too seriously given the obvious transparency with which O'Neal delivers them. It's as clear as the 90s backboards he used to shatter on a regular basis.
During his 19-year Odyssey of a career, Shaq made about $290m (not adjusted for inflation). At the conclusion of Gobert's new contract, he'll have earned over $300m with change. You can't help but wonder whether Gobert would be such a lightning rod for criticism from O'Neal were he not bypassing his entire career earnings in the space of just two contracts.
There is of course no comparison in terms of who is the better player. What concerns Shaq more than anything is the idea that their names could ever meet in the same sentence, let alone the same paragraph, given the disparity in their numbers. Financial or otherwise.
Typically speaking, the raw points and boards generation of big men that included O'Neal and his Inside the NBA co-presenter Charles Barkley (who it must be said has defended Gobert on multiple occasions) will always take eye-popping on-court production over advanced defensive metrics, the kind Gobert excels in.
But ask NBA fans who'd they would take out of Gobert (averaging 12 points and 13 rebounds this season) and Andre Drummond for example (19 and 15), the kind of empty calories stat-sheet stuffer that looks better on paper than just about anywhere else, and the choice becomes unanimous in the Frenchman's favour. Defence and rim protection matters. It's as simple as that.
It's also important to remember that Gobert's route to stardom in the league was an uncomfortable one. He was no high school and college prodigy turned number one overall pick like Shaq. After only two full seasons playing for the senior team of Cholet in his native country, Gobert was taken 27th in the first round of the 2013 draft by the Denver Nuggets and immediately traded to the Jazz.
He spent his first season in and out of the Jazz lineup, as well as featuring for the Bakersfield Jam in the G-League. The following season he finished third in Most Improved Player voting and during a recent interview, the 7-foot center outlined just how unexpected his rise within the league has been.
"When I got here seven years ago... that was my first time living in the US. That was only my second time even being in the US," he said.
"For me, it's unbelievable. Coming from being drafted 27th, from France. Barely playing my first year. I went to the G-League a few times. All the struggles and all the hard work that has been done, and all the people that believed in me behind closed doors and helped me, you know, get better every single day."
This is arguably what O'Neal has failed to come to terms with when dismissing Gobert. Whereas, at times, it appeared to be Shaq's God-given right to dominate the paint at both ends of the floor for almost decade and a half, the less said about his Cleveland and Boston stints the better.
Gobert has had to meticulously grind his way to becoming one of the most influential big men in the NBA, especially as an apparently unfashionable center on an apparently unfashionable team.
The synergy between player and franchise is all-important when taking these mammoth contract extensions into consideration, and Gobert's relationship with Utah is amongst the best in the league. In the same interview, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year also touched upon his title aspirations with the franchise and belief in the culture Quin Snyder has nurtured there.
"I always feel like it would mean a lot more to bring a championship here," he said. "First of all because of all the struggles that we have been through the last seven years. The blood, the sweat, the losses in the first round of the playoffs."
"You know, I believe in this group. I believe in this organisation. And the goal stays the same. Since I got here, I always thought that having the chance to bring a championship to the state of Utah, to the city and to this organisation would be something pretty powerful."
As of Friday morning, the Jazz have the second-best record in the league at 11-4, behind only the Championship-favourite Los Angeles Lakers, whilst also possessing the seventh-best defensive rating per NBA.com, largely thanks to Gobert. Not only that but along with the Lakers and the Suns, the Jazz are the only other team in the top 10 for both offensive and defensive rating, too - usually the telltale sign of a genuine contender.
They go into Saturday's match-up against the Warriors on the back of a blistering seven-game winning streak, during which they've been comfortably the best team in the league in terms of net rating. Despite this, they are, as they always are, quietly flying under the radar.
Gobert's pick and roll chemistry with veteran point guard Mike Conley is improving by the game and Donovan Mitchell, electric in the playoffs last season, has fired himself out of a surprising post-bubble slump and back to his best.
In Jordan Clarkson, they also have one of the most effective sixth men in the league. The Jazz are both starting to look and feel like the real thing, and that simply doesn't happen without Rudy Gobert looking things down beneath the basket. In fact, that's where it all starts.
Whether the Jazz have a legitimate shot of surviving the Western Conference playoffs, let alone competing for a championship, remains to be seen. But they know what they have in Gobert. Alongside Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo he remains one of the truly elite defensive anchors.
Perhaps as important is the fact that even now, in his eighth season with the team, he remains as wholeheartedly committed to and enthused by the Jazz cause. They are, after all, not a marquee free agent destination. Not everyone wants to spend their basketball career in Utah.
It will always be the case that different players are worth different amounts to different organisations. Not all max contract extensions are the same. Shaq might have a point that Gobert's numbers pale in comparison to the other best pure centers in the league, particularly Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.
But to answer the question: is Rudy Gobert really worth all that money? It seems that there is only one answer that truly matters. To the Utah Jazz he is, absolutely.
