Rudy Gobert ‘excited’ for matchup with Draymond Green in playoffs: ‘He’s a fierce competitor and so am I’

The Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves earned the right to face off against one another in the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs after they took care of business in the first round.

Golden State beat the Houston Rockets in seven games, while the Timberwolves sent the Los Angeles Lakers home in five. Both the Warriors and Timberwolves were lower seeds in their first-round matchups.

One interesting wrinkle to the second-round matchup is that two of the better defensive players in the league in big men Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert will face off. Ahead of Tuesday night’s Game 1, Gobert called Green a “fierce competitor” and said that he’s “excited” to do battle against the Warriors star.

“He’s Draymond — he’s an all-time great defender,” Gobert said. “He’s going to be very physical. He’s going to be himself, right? For me, it’s really about being myself and also being physical and doing all the things I do to help my team win.”

Gobert seems ready to embrace the challenge of playing against a player like Green, who’s an irritant.

“I enjoy it,” Gobert said. “I enjoy the competitive aspect of the game and the physicality and all these things. So, I’m excited. I’m excited. He’s a fierce competitor and so am I.”

Green has been critical of Gobert and his impact on the floor. During the 2024 NBA Playoffs, the former Michigan State University star said that Gobert “sucks” on national television. Former NBA wing Eddie Johnson came to Gobert’s defense, however, and reminded Green in a post on X that Gobert has four Defensive Player of the Year awards compared to his one.

Then, when Gobert got benched for France in its quarterfinal win against Canada in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Green went after the Frenchman and said that it was “kind of crazy” that he got taken out of the game as an NBA player who didn’t play on Team USA.

Green has enjoyed far more playoff success over the course of his pro career than Gobert has. The former is a four-time champion and has reached the NBA’s mountaintop as recently as 2022. Gobert, on the other hand, has yet to even play in a championship series since he was drafted in the opening round of the 2013 NBA Draft.

Gobert will try to help the Timberwolves reach the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row. Minnesota lost to guard Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in last year’s Western Conference Finals in a gentleman’s sweep.