As Timberwolves prepare for play-in game, it's time for Rudy Gobert to grow up

Rudy Gobert might punch me for this, but Friday night would be a good time for him to prove he's mature enough to be a franchise player.

Those calling the Timberwolves' play-in game on Friday night "big'' or "important'' or — in the current parlance — "huge'' are demonstrating a severe lowering of standards for even Minnesota sports.

It's a play-in game. It's not even a play-in game for the seventh seed. It's the lesser conclusive play-in game, against a team that is building for the future and finished 10th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference.

The winner earns the right to be outsmarted by Nikola Jokic in the first round of the actual playoffs.

This game isn't "big.'' Losing wouldn't even end or doom the Wolves' ongoing Gobert experiment. They have at least two more years to hope for better health and cohesiveness, and this year's woes could wind up being informative.

This isn't a big game, but it could be a big moment for Gobert.

This would be an ideal time for him to start growing up.

In terms of pure basketball, Gobert played a representative season. His numbers were slightly down — including minutes played, which affected his other statistics — and he took time to learn how to play in Chris Finch's system. Karl-Anthony Towns' preseason illness and regular-season injury cost the two valuable time together.

Overall, Gobert was durable and played well enough, and played better as the year went on. There's nothing particularly dramatic or surprising about any of that, and he could become more dominant under better circumstances, and while playing with his preferred point guard, Mike Conley, next season.

The ongoing concerns with Gobert are his immaturity, and how that reflects on the price the Wolves paid for him.

During the Wolves' game against New Orleans on Sunday, Gobert reacted to Kyle Anderson's typical in-game lectures by punching Anderson in the chest during a team huddle.

That was an act of remarkable immaturity. Gobert could have yelled at Anderson, or waited to confront him in the locker room. That kind of conflict is ever-present in the NBA.

Instead, Gobert took himself out of an important game and got himself suspended for a play-in game that the Wolves probably would have won had he been available.

Beat the Lakers on Tuesday, and the Wolves would be resting before playing a No. 2 seed, Memphis, that isn't at its best, and that the Wolves felt they should have beaten a year ago.

Instead, the Wolves follow an exhausting overtime game against the Lakers with a game on Friday, knowing that a victory pits them against the No. 1 seed.

What's sad is that Gobert's immaturity isn't surprising.

He's the same guy who touched reporters' equipment in March 2020, an attempted joke about COVID-19 just as the pandemic began.

He's the same guy who liked an Elon Musk tweet about prosecuting Anthony Fauci, then the president's chief medical advisor, that was widely viewed as transphobic.

He's an awkward basketball player because he's massive, and maneuvering that bulk isn't easy.

He doesn't have an excuse for being an awkward teammate or employee.

The Wolves have been ridiculed by national analysts for giving up four first-round picks, swapping another first-rounder, and trading Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro and Walker Kessler for Gobert.

This trade could still work. A full season of Gobert, Towns, Conley, Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards, with Kyle Anderson and Taurean Prince leading the bench, could win big.

The NBA, though, is filled with teams whose dreams are shattered by dysfunction. One selfish or difficult personality can ruin the best-laid plans.

Friday night is the first night of the rest of Gobert's Timberwolves career. For all of his positional and personal awkwardness, he still has time to determine how he will fit in with a good group of teammates, and how he will be remembered as a supposed NBA franchise player.