A history of the Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert beef

2021-22 is really when things started to get off the rails between these two, as Green was part of TNT’s All-Star coverage that year and used multiple opportunities to lay into the three-time Defensive Player of the Year.

First, while on Inside the NBA, Green made fun of Gobert once again for crying about not making the All-Star Team in 2018-19 (via ClutchPoints):

“One thing I can assure you: If I didn’t make it this year, I wasn’t going to cry. I can 100 percent assure you that. 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. You can’t cry, Chuck. I said it then, I’m gonna say it now.”

Then, while being compared to Gobert as far as defensive prowess during a broadcast, Green went off seemingly out of nowhere (via ClutchPoints):

After being compared defensively with the likes of Dikembe Mutombo and Rudy Gobert as former Defensive Players of the Year, Draymond Green fired back with what felt like a sudden rage from his heart. “You keep mentioning me in the same sentence with him. We are not alike,” asserted the Warriors star. Kenny Smith followed up by asking if he meant Dikembe Mutombo or Rudy Gobert. “Who you just mentioned me with and I ain’t say Mutombo,” Draymond replied. “We ain’t nothing alike.” … “I think what [Gobert] does on the defensive side of the ball is incredible. I think the way he protects the rim is incredible. But defense is more than just protecting the rim.”

A few days later, Gobert was asked about all of the stuff Green had been saying about him in the media but, to his credit, he took the high road (via Larry Brown Sports):

Speaking with reporters on Friday, the Utah Jazz center was asked about all of the shots that Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has taken at him recently. “It’s just noise to me,” replied Gobert, per Dana Greene of KTVX in Utah. “If anything, when people keep talking about you, targeting you in some way, it means you’re doing something right. I’m just gonna keep trying to be the best Rudy I can be on and off the court and for my team.

A month later, Gobert sat down with NBA reporter Taylor Rooks and was asked about his relationship with Green, one that Gobert said – at the time –  was ‘nice and respectful’ when the duo was around each other in real life and saying he didn’t have beef with anyone (via NBC Sports):

The 7-foot-1 Utah Jazz center sat down with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks to give his take on his relationship with Green. “I’m not talking about him,” Gobert said. “When I see him in person, he’s always really nice and respectful. So as long as that stays the same. I think that what’s being said about me on podcasts, it’s not just Draymond, it’s a lot of guys that try to discredit what I do every night, who I am as a player. It’s part of it. But for me, I will always take it as respect. If I was an average defensive player, an average player, they wouldn’t talk about me. I will always take it as respect.” …. “Once again, when I talk about Draymond, or anyone else, I show respect. If these guys want to disrespect me, it’s their choice. I’m a quiet person and some guys are different, and they’re going to express their mind and it’s fine. People love beef. Beef generates more interaction. I get it. But I’m chilling. I don’t have beef with anyone.”

Spoiler alert: Things would not stay ‘nice and respectful’ between the two.

Bleacher Report provided more quotes by Gobert after that question about Green:

Rudy Gobert on Draymond Green: There’s no beef on my side. I mean, as long as you keep your respect. You know, you stay in line, and respect my family and stuff like that. You know, he just competitiveness and he just, you know, I’ve, once again every time I talked about Draymond, anybody else, I show respect/ So these guys want to disrespect me, it’s their choice, you know, and I take that as respect because I know that’s, you know, its competitiveness and knowing I’m a quiet person, but some guys are different personalities. And, you know, they’re gonna, they’re gonna express their mind. And it’s fine.

Gobert also defended himself against the belief that Green was a better defender at the time:

Taylor Rooks: This whole situation, I think, is very fascinating to me this whole Rudy Gobert-Draymond Green thing. So I want for you, why do you feel like that relationship is where it is right now? Or, I guess, lack of relationship? Rudy Gobert: Yeah, I mean, when you say where the relationship is, it’s because of what he’s saying about me, because I’m not talking about him. You’re right. So when I see him in person, he is always really nice and respectful. Rudy Gobert: It’s either right or wrong? Once again, there’s data, there’s numbers, there’s, you know, a lot of people that know this game, that watch the game, and that are kind of neutral, you know, that don’t have anything to gain, and they can make their own opinion. So for me, it’s like, I’m never going to talk down on anyone. You know, I respect all these guys know that. Once again, like I respect every guy in the league, I think everyone for sort of being in this league is already something. So the great ambition, and it’s hard to also be in this league and sustain this league and be consistent, you know, and they will tell you the same. So I show respect, you know, and if you disrespect me in persons different story, but we can say whatever you want.

However, things got a bit spicier from the Gobert side when in Oct. 2022, video surfaced of Green punching former teammate Jordan Poole during a heated moment in a Warriors practice. Gobert, who just half a year earlier said he respected everyone and had no beef with Green, thought that would be a good time to fire his first direct shot at the Warriors star, tweeting:

Insecurity is always loud.

— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) October 7, 2022

Grade-A trolling.