Tuesday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves They will play their playoff game on the road in California against the Los Angeles Lakers.
They will be without one of their most important players as three-time NBA All-Star Rudy Gobert is suspended for the game. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN).
Wojnarowski’s first tweet: “Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert is not traveling with the team to LA and will not play against the Lakers in Tuesday’s play-in contest, sources told ESPN.
Wojnarowski’s second tweet: “Gobert will serve a one-game suspension and is expected to return if the Wolves lose to the Lakers and make another playoff game or advance to the Western Conference playoffs, sources said.
The suspension stemmed from an altercation between timeouts in Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Gobert and Kyle Anderson were seen arguing, and the 30-year-old center tried to hit Anderson.
Gobert spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Utah Jazz before being traded in a blockbuster deal over the summer.
He finished his first regular season in Minnesota with strong averages of 13.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.4 blocks in 70 games while shooting 65.9% from the field.
That said, business has been disappointing so far.
Last year, the Timberwolves made the NBA Playoffs for the first time since the 2018 season and went 46-36 in the regular season (finishing as the seventh seed).
This year, they are the ninth seed and went 42-40.