The Minnesota Timberwolves’ season is hanging by a thread in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, and honestly, that thread is looking super frayed, like it’s about to snap. Down 3-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Wolves needed a literal miracle on the road. Instead, what they’re serving up is an absolute horror show, and guess who’s catching all the heat? Yep, Rudy Gobert. As the Wolves get completely dismantled by OKC in a must-win game, those Defensive Player of the Year awards he’s got? They’re starting to look real questionable.

Let’s just try to stomach the carnage of that first half, because the Thunder are already up by a mile, leading 65-32. The Timberwolves were shooting a miserable 30.8% from the field. They turned the ball over a whopping 14 times. And get this: they only managed six assists as a team. It was so bad that their nine points in the first quarter set a franchise record for the fewest points ever scored in any playoff quarter. Nine! Shai Gilgeous-Alexander alone had 20 points for the Thunder by halftime.

So, where does Rudy Gobert fit into this mess? Oh, that’s what fans are absolutely screaming about. When your team is getting run off the floor, and your defensive anchor, the guy with four DPOY trophies, seems to be a non-factor, the criticism is going to be loud. A significant shift occurred when Chris Finch pulled Gobert out of the game in the first quarter; the Thunder immediately started attacking Minnesota’s smaller frontcourt with relentless drives.

Further complicating things for the Wolves, OKC even deployed Alex Caruso to guard Gobert at times, a move that effectively neutralized Gobert’s ability to set screens for his teammates. Like, if your DPOY center is getting totally schemed into irrelevance or isn’t even on the floor when the opponent is feasting, what’s the deal? 

The fans on Twitter are absolutely letting him have it. You see the score, you see the Wolves just looking lost, and then the tweets start flying. One fan perfectly captured the mood: “The amount of defensive lapses Rudy Gobert has is sickening and I’m supposed to believe this is a x4 DPOY?” 

And that’s the million-dollar question right now, isn’t it? Where is that DPOY impact when your season is literally on the line and your team is getting embarrassed? It’s one thing to rack up awards in the regular season, but the playoffs are where legacies are made, and right now, Gobert’s isn’t looking too hot. It’s giving “regular season stats vs. playoff impact.”

“What does Rudy Gobert even do, man?”: Fans unleash as Wolves implode

When Rudy Gobert and the Timberwolves hit a rough patch—particularly on the offensive end—there’s a familiar, if blunt, question that resurfaces across social media. One fan on X summed it up with brutal simplicity: “What does Rudy Gobert even do, man?” It’s a jarring critique, especially for a player with four Defensive Player of the Year awards to his name. But it underscores a persistent frustration that shadows Gobert’s career: his offensive ceiling.

No one expects him to carry the scoring load or drop 25 a night. His value lies elsewhere—anchoring the defense, protecting the rim, and being the stabilizing force in the paint. Yet, when the offense sputters and his presence doesn’t visibly shift the momentum, the criticisms tend to grow louder.

This leads directly into another major criticism that’s been flying around, perfectly summed up by this fan take that just hits: “The Mitchell Robinson & Rudy Gobert build in the NBA is useless. You can’t be the biggest person on the floor and not be able to score. No post moves. No offensive skill set. You have to be able to space the floor out or be dominant down low. If not you’re useless as a big man.”

This comment really gets to the core of the “Gobert problem” for a lot of people. In today’s NBA, if you’re a center who isn’t a legit offensive threat—either by stretching the floor with a shot or by being a dominant force in the post with a bag of moves—you can become a straight-up liability, especially when the playoffs hit. Gobert doesn’t have a reliable jump shot, and his post-game isn’t exactly giving Hakeem Olajuwon vibes. Teams can just sag off him, pack the paint, and basically dare him to beat them. When the Wolves’ offense grinds to a halt, Gobert’s inability to create his own shot or consistently punish defenses becomes glaring. 

All of this feeds into the most damning critique of Rudy Gobert’s career—one that calls into question the true weight of his accolades when it matters most. As one fan bluntly put it: “Rudy Gobert is the most fraudulent player in the history of the NBA. Guy’s a constant DPOY candidate and gets HUNTED in the playoffs.” “Fraudulent” is an extreme label, but it captures a widespread sentiment among critics: the disconnect between Gobert’s regular-season dominance and his postseason vulnerability.

For years, opponents have exposed that gap. Whether it was the Clippers’ small-ball schemes or Dallas stretching him into unfavorable matchups, teams have consistently game-planned to drag Gobert away from the paint—neutralizing his rim protection and forcing him into switches that test his lateral quickness. The result? A defensive anchor who sometimes struggles to anchor when the lights are brightest.

If he can’t consistently dominate defensively in those playoff matchups, and he’s not giving you much on offense, then those DPOY awards start to feel like they don’t tell the whole story. This Game 5 performance, with the Wolves getting absolutely embarrassed in an elimination game, is only going to pour gasoline on that fire.