By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Rudy Gobert wonders if basketball television personality Skip Bayless could call him a ‘fake tough guy’ to his face.
Gobert, 29, going through an eventful offseason, is coming off a social media reaction to Shaquille O’Neal mentioning that he would score 12 points against him ‘in the first three minutes’. Weighing in the hypothetical matchup, the French center had commented on Instagram that he would ‘lock his ass up’.
Diving in the aftermath of the renewed feud during Fox Sports’ Skip and Shannon: Undisputed, Bayless was confident enough to call the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year a ‘finesse defender’ who needed to ‘shut up’. Delivering yet another response, Gobert mentioned Bayless is not allowed to ‘talk to me that way’ and also asked if he would ‘speak to me that way if you were standing in front of me’.
Would u speak to me that way if you were standing in front of me @RealSkipBayless ?? I’m cool with the constant disrespect and opinions about who i am as a player and i CHOOSE to let these things slide but it seems like people are getting way to comfortable… https://t.co/YZ0wjwtuE3
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) May 11, 2022
Only two people on this earth are allowed to talk to me that way @RealSkipBayless . And you’re not one of em. https://t.co/TGGfk2nAHe
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) May 11, 2022
“I’m cool with the constant disrespect and opinions about who I am as a player and I CHOOSE to let these things slide but it seems like people are getting way too comfortable,” he added on the post shared on Twitter. He was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
Gobert recently wrapped up his ninth NBA season as the Utah Jazz were eliminated in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks in six games. Under contract through the 2024-25 season and controlling an option for the 2025-26 season, he recently discarded a reported trade demand as ‘rumor’, via social media.
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