Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert has been a mentor to San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama. Now, the two will face off in the playoffs.
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MINNEAPOLIS — Eyes darting around the room, Rudy Gobert is racking his brain for a message for his protege. Gobert and his Minnesota Timberwolves had just defeated the San Antonio Spurs and his mentee, Victor Wembanyama, in January.
Gobert could have talked trash about the game. He also could have imparted some wisdom on getting his health back so his game could finally reach the next level.
But Gobert has been doing that for years already. He had a different challenge for Wembanyama instead.
“Ask him if he can beat me at chess without the timer bailing him out,” Gobert told The Athletic with a sly grin.
The relationship between the face of French basketball for the past decade and the NBA’s new enfant terrible is rooted in a deeper journey. They challenge each other on the court, but they relish pushing each other off it.
Wembanyama laughed when he received Gobert’s message a few minutes later, replying by saying he looks forward to another meeting of the minds in the future. Though he may be able to read the board faster, Gobert believes somewhere, deep in his heart, he could beat Wembanyama with enough time.
Now they have it. Seven games of it. Their chessboard has a 3-point line and four 12-minute quarters.
The NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year meeting the man who has won the most of them in league history. The 7-foot-4 prodigy who is reshaping the game against the 7-foot-1 veteran who has mastered the skill of containing it. A meeting of the player taking over the game and the big brother who prepared him for this moment.
“I love trying to give him everything he needs, to answer all his questions,” Gobert said. “(I) try to be the best mentor I can be for him.”
Wembanyama, the Spurs’ 22-year-old MVP candidate, hosts the 33-year-old Gobert and the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the second round of the NBA playoffs on Monday. Gobert has been the person most responsible for the Timberwolves’ evolution into a defensive-minded team. From the moment he was acquired in 2022, he has served as the backbone of a team that has advanced to the second round for the third straight season and is gunning for its third consecutive Western Conference finals appearance.
Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić presented an immense test for Gobert in the first round, one he passed with flying colors. Now Gobert faces a different, but no less imposing, opponent he knows all too well.
“We faced a contender in the first round. Now we face another contender,” Gobert told reporters. “As a competitor, what more can we ask for? That’s what we sacrifice for, we work for every single day. That’s what I’ve prepared myself for since I’m 12 years old.”
Wembanyama knew his first title pursuit in the NBA might go through the man who helped him get here. “It’s even more fun if we’re playing against Rudy,” he said. Gobert called it a moment that is “amazing for French basketball” and a dream come true as the youth of France watched the game from afar.
They now have to ruin each other’s current chapters in a story that is nearly 10 years in the making.
“He’s completely free on the court, and he’s really starting to master his craft, even though he still has a lot of growth upon him,” Gobert said of Wembanyama. “It’s pretty amazing to see that he’s (22), but also, he’s already mastering his craft. Obviously, I think a lot of the growth that he had is going to be physical. Keep getting stronger, keep being more resistant.”
Gobert has a lot to do with that evolution. He remembered hosting a children’s basketball tournament back in 2017 when their shared agent, Jérémy Medjana, introduced a young Victor and his mother, Elodie. At first, the Wolves center wasn’t struck by the size of Wembanyama — then 5-foot-11 — but more captivated by Elodie, who stands 6-foot-3.
Then, Gobert found out Wembanyama was only 13 years old.
“You could tell he was a baby and would keep growing,” Gobert said.
From that point, Gobert kept tabs on Wembanyama. He would check in with Medjana and co-agent Bouna Ndiaye for updates on the youngster. He wanted to get in the gym with Wembanyama when he was ready and show him the nuances of guarding the paint in the NBA. They reunited three years later for a two-on-two workout alongside French centers Vincent Poirier and Maxime Raynaud. By that point, the 16-year-old Wembanyama was already taller than the 7-foot-1 Gobert.
There are videos of them shooting hoops, but Wembanyama took away even more from Gobert when they hit the weight room afterwards. He wanted to see how Gobert managed to fill out his wiry, massive frame while staying nimble. Wembanyama was getting a hands-on education in longevity.
“After that, we became friends, and I was paying very close attention to his development,” Gobert said. “I always thought he was a little different than the other guys. Not only because of his physical tools, but because of his mindset.”
Wembanyama has long known he would not be well served bulking up to look like David Robinson or Joel Embiid. Gobert represented a path toward a sustainable training program that could withstand the rigors of the NBA. Gobert could teach him everything about pick-and-roll angles, shot altering and every aspect of defense.
But Wembanyama needed to learn how a veteran of playoff battles still plays 70-plus games a season after all these years.
“As a role model, there’s lots of things that he’s inspired me and I think should inspire more people,” Wembanyama said this week. “In terms of taking care of your body, he should be a role model for all big men.”
Gobert is known for his daily focus on yoga and meditation. He once went on a 64-hour darkness retreat in 2023 to focus on his mind-body connection, a journey that parallels Wembanyama’s 10-day venture out to a Shaolin temple last summer. Both seek different perspectives on training while yearning to understand the connection between their career pursuits and their sense of self.
“We have so many conversations about how to maximize your physical potential, but it’s much deeper than that,” Gobert said. “It’s (about) how to maximize our spiritual and mental potential, and Victor is a very curious kid.”
To make a body of their size move with so much efficiency and fluidity, players like Gobert and Wembanyama need a deeper bond with their feet and core to help distribute effort more evenly throughout the body. Gobert helped Wembanyama embrace proprioception — the body’s sense of orientation — which helps spread the strain of forceful moves and even hyperextensions. It’s part of why Wembanyama can maintain balance even when he’s low to the ground and change direction in a way nobody near his size has ever achieved.
Gobert often speaks to Wembanyama about how to sharpen what he calls their “superpowers.” They have a meticulous process of activation and recovery, doing various forms of meditation and stimulus training to make sure every element of their body is working in concert. Gobert praises Wembanyama’s thirst for knowledge, which turned out to be quite literal.
“A few weeks ago, he asked me what kind of filter I have in my house for water,” Gobert told reporters last week. “It just tells you how his mind is. I try to talk to the young guys here about the food they eat and stuff like that. But I don’t get those kind of questions.”
He said, perhaps facetiously, that he is “praying” for the day that Anthony Edwards asks him those kinds of questions, saying how these types of inquiries show how Wembanyama’s desire to maximize his body is different.
“He has the extra discipline that the greats have, and he puts in the work,” Gobert said. “He understands that, obviously, his body is the key, and his mind. He’s really trying to master both.”
When Wembanyama was diagnosed with a blood clot in his shoulder in February 2025, Gobert reached out to offer support and guidance. He could feel the devastation coming from Wembanyama to not be able to play or train. The path of his protege’s life had been put on hold, creating a feeling of aimlessness in the immediate aftermath.
“I remember him being very frustrated, not being able to play,” Gobert said. “But he has grown so much from that experience, because it made him realize that nothing is granted in life.”
Wembanyama emerged from that setback with a refreshed sense of purpose in his career and his role as a public persona. He has become outspoken on everything from gun violence to basketball ethics. He is open about his hopes and dreams and how he deals with his ups and downs. He stands on business when he sheds a tear and doesn’t hide behind the tough athlete tropes.
As they prepare for the longest battle of their friendship, Gobert is most proud of who his protege has become.
“It’s pretty amazing to see that he’s one of a kind — and not just physically. He’s a special soul, a special person, and I really care about (him),” Gobert said. “I really try to be there for him and, obviously, it’s way beyond basketball. I want him to be good, be well. It’s something that I truly care about.”
— Jon Krawczynski contributed to this story.
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Jared Weiss is a staff writer covering the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama for The Athletic. He has covered the Celtics since 2011, co-founding CLNS Media Network while in college before covering the team for SB Nation’s CelticsBlog and USA Today. Before coming to The Athletic, Weiss spent a decade working for the government, primarily as a compliance bank regulator. Follow Jared on X @JaredWeissNBA
