Gobert could cost the Timberwolves an NBA Championship

The arrival of LaMelo Ball appeared to give the Minnesota Timberwolves another gear, allowing Anthony Edwards to focus more on offense. After a strong start, with three wins in their first four games and Edwards averaging 33.3 points, a knee injury to Minnesota’s star complicated everything, sidelining him for potentially up to two months.

Two consecutive losses have also exposed another problem. According to an analysis published by ClutchPoints, Minnesota’s biggest concern is Rudy Gobert’s offensive production, which has fallen well short of expectations.

The Frenchman remains reliable defensively, but his struggles at the other end threaten to become a significant limitation. That’s no small consideration for a team hoping to contend for an NBA championship.

Rudy Gobert’s offensive numbers raise concerns

Over the summer, the Timberwolves chose to change their identity, moving on from Naz Reid and Julius Randle to build a faster, more dynamic team.

That decision thinned the frontcourt while handing Gobert much of the responsibility around the basket. It was an understandable gamble, considering the defensive value of a player who has been one of the NBA’s best specialists for more than a decade.

And at least defensively, Minnesota continues to deliver strong results.

Through their first five games, the Timberwolves posted the league’s second-best defensive rating, allowing just 102.5 points per 100 possessions. The problem, then, isn’t so much Gobert’s ability to protect the rim as what he provides when the team needs to score.

The Frenchman is averaging 6.6 points on just 37% shooting, highly unusual numbers for a center who has built his career on dunks, layups and highly efficient finishes.

To understand how unusual this start has been, consider this comparison: Gobert entered the season shooting 65.8% for his career, but through his first five games, he made just 8 of 20 attempts from within five feet of the basket.

Even more telling, he had seven shots blocked from that same distance. That number illustrates the struggles of a player accustomed to physically dominating around the rim.

The last two games made the picture even clearer. Against Cleveland, Gobert went 0-for-9 from the field, struggling against Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. Things didn’t improve against Golden State, where he missed all four attempts and played just 20 minutes.

In total, that’s 13 consecutive shots without a made field goal.

The real risk for the Timberwolves

At 34, after more than a decade shouldering enormous defensive responsibilities, it’s fair to ask how consistently Gobert can still contribute at both ends of the floor.

The problem isn’t that the Frenchman has suddenly stopped being a great defender. His ability to read situations, protect the paint and disrupt opposing offenses remains essential to Minnesota.

Rather, his growing difficulty posing an offensive threat risks shifting the team’s balance. Gobert has never been a big who creates his own shot, but he has always compensated with elite efficiency around the rim. If that disappears too, defenses can focus more heavily on Ball, Edwards and the other perimeter players without worrying much about what happens around the basket.

That’s a particularly dangerous situation in the playoffs, when opponents have time to study every weakness and adjust their rotations. Gobert has struggled before against smaller, switchable lineups that, on paper, lack the size to contain him but often succeed in limiting his offensive involvement.

If he can’t punish those matchups, opponents can move away from a traditional center, improve their defensive mobility and make life even harder for Minnesota’s primary scorers.

Against that backdrop, some of the Frenchman’s three-point attempts have also raised eyebrows. Searching for new offensive options is understandable, but Gobert has never built his game around perimeter shooting and is unlikely to suddenly become a specialist.

Minnesota’s priority is restoring his effectiveness around the basket.

Edwards’ absence makes the immediate situation more difficult, but the issue extends beyond the next few weeks. The Timberwolves have built a team with significant ambitions, and to truly compete for an NBA championship, they can’t afford for one of their highest-paid players to become such an obvious offensive weakness.

Five games are too few to declare a permanent decline, especially for a player with Gobert’s résumé. But the early signs deserve attention.

Because Minnesota can live with a center who doesn’t score much. The problem begins when opponents stop worrying about him altogether.