Minnesota Timberwolves big man and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert recently claimed that he wants to stamp himself as the greatest defensive player of all time.
“My goal is to be the best defender ever,” Gobert said. “And now my only focus is to win a championship and to keep impacting my team, keep trying to make my team the top defense in this league. I think that’s the best measure of an all-time defender.”
At 32 years old, Gobert is already one of the more accomplished players on the less glamorous side of the ball in the history of the NBA. He is in his 12th season in the league and already has seven All-Defensive nods and four Defensive Player of the Year awards as feathers in his cap.
Gobert also has a legitimate shot at winning the most Defensive Player of the Year awards of any player ever by the time his NBA career comes to an end. In fact, he is already tied with Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo for the most awards of all time.
The Minnesota Timberwolves may have lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in their season opener on Tuesday, but Gobert finished the game with a double-double. He totaled 13 points, 14 rebounds and one block. However, he didn’t do all that great of a job keeping Lakers star Anthony Davis in check.
With Gobert guarding him, Davis scored 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. He ended the game with 36 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks.
In order to be universally considered an all-time great defensive player, Gobert likely has to do some more winning in the coming years. He has yet to win an NBA title or even play in an NBA Finals, though it is important to note that he helped the Timberwolves reach the Western Conference Finals in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Perhaps 2025 will be the year when Gobert finally plays in the NBA Finals and wins a championship. Minnesota is arguably a deeper team than it was a year ago after it traded Karl Anthony-Towns to the New York Knicks ahead of the start of the campaign for a package centered on forward Julius Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo.
