A new chapter of the Rudy Gobert and Draymond Green feud is set to be written.
As the two sides of the pair clash in the Western Conference semifinals this week, with the Minnesota Timberwolves taking on the Golden State Warriors.
No one will forget the infamous moment when, in November 2023, Draymond Green choked Rudy Gobert and was handed a five-game suspension.
However, you have to go back to 2017 to find the start of a feud that would later unravel into a juicy rivalry full of scuffles, tears and tweets.
Their NBA careers are closely intertwined, Green was drafted 35th overall by the Warriors, while Gobert came in a year later as the 27th pick in 2013 to the Denver Nuggets, who traded him to the Utah Jazz on the same day.
The pair both quickly established themselves as defensive powerhouses, with Green a crucial part of the Warriors dynasty that won four championships between 2015 and 2022.
Gobert didn’t enjoy similar postseason success, but he made a name for himself as a dominant rim protector who blocked plenty of shots.
In 2017, the pair both battled it out for the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Green won in the end with Gobert finishing second; the Warriors also swept the Jazz in that postseason, planting the seeds of their rivalry.
It was 2019 when the first blows were exchanged, as when Gobert began crying in a press conference about not making the All-Star team, Green, who didn’t make it either, mocked him on social media.
“I guess I should cry too… no Charlotte?, Green posted on X.
A user replied: “Like u cried in the parking lot for KD?”, referring to the rumour Green begged for Kevin Durant to come to the Warriors after they lost the 2016 Finals, and Gobert liked the reply.
@WorldWideWobGreen choked Gobert in 2023[/caption] Gobert and Green have battled it out multiple times for the Defensive Player of the Year awardGETTYFor the next few years, nothing major would flare up between the two, but it was Gobert who dominated the awards from this point.
The Frenchman won his first Defensive Player of the Year award in 2018, before winning it again in 2019 and 2021; he would also win it in 2024.
In 2022, things began to heat up as Green decided to mock Gobert’s 2019 tears live on air when he was part of TNT’s All-Star coverage.
“One thing I can assure you: If I didn’t make it this year, I wasn’t going to cry. I can 100 per cent assure you that,” Green said.
“It has to be Rudy. I mean, the man cried on national television when he didn’t make the All-Star team. Thank god he’s made the next three.”
A couple of weeks later, he slammed a reporter for comparing him to Gobert.
“You keep mentioning me in the same sentence with him. We are not alike,” asserted the Warriors star.
Later that year, when footage of Green punching Jordan Poole went viral, Gobert took to social media to reveal his thoughts.
“Insecurit is always loud,” he posted.
Ironically, Gobert would later punch his teammate Kyle Anderson on the final day of the 2022-23 regular season, and Green had the perfect response.
“Insecurity is always loud,” Green posted after the incident.
The most famous incident between the pair happened in the 2023-24 season when Jaden McDaniels and Klay Thompson got into altercation
Gobert is one of four players in NBA history to win four Defensive Player of the year awardsGettyGobert stepped in and grabbed Thompson, leading to Green running over to put him in a chokehold for a lengthy period.
Gobert called the action “clown behaviour” but Green said he didn’t regret coming to the aid of his teammate, despite being handed a five-game suspension for it.
A month later, Green was suspended again, but this time indefinitely by the NBA, after striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face.
Gobert said he had “empathy” for Green before adding: “You see somebody that’s not well inside and suffering.
“You take away the game and all that, and you want somebody to be well and be able to do what we do every night and compete and be happy.”
In 2024, Green would keep throwing digs at Gobert, most notably when he was part of the TNT coverage of last year’s playoffs, which the Warriors missed out on.
When Green was present at the Timberwolves arena during their 4-3 series win against the Denver Nuggets, the Minneosta crowd shouted “Draymond sucks” to which he replied “Rudy sucks, not me.”
It led to the Timberwolves refusing to do any media with TNT after the game.
So, what is in store for us in 2025? Both players haven’t changed, with Green still playing on the edge, he’s already picked up four technicals and two flagrants this postseason.
While Gobert is still the dominant defender he’s always been.
Green has had playoff campaign full of fouls so farGettyBoth players will be wary not to cross any lines and potentially cost their teams a place in the Western Conference Finals.
The action begins with Game One in Minnesota on Tuesday.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Fist-throwing Draymond Green and a decade-long rivalry left Rudy Gobert in tears as pair renew hostilities )
Also on site :
- Israel launches massive airstrikes on Yemen’s biggest airport in revenge blitz after Houthi rebel attack on Tel Aviv
- Brydon Carse poised to give England a boost with return to action after injury
- Saraya Once Again Teases Potential WWE Return