Mar 10, 2025, 12:15 AM ET
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert returned to action Sunday against San Antonio after a 10-game absence due to a lower back injury — and joined in the team’s highest-scoring game of the season.
Gobert was reinserted in Minnesota’s most common starting lineup this season, with Mike Conley and Anthony Edwards at guard and Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle at forward. Naz Reid returned to a reserve role, after averaging 18.1 points and 9.7 rebounds as a starter while Gobert was out.
In 20 minutes, Gobert had 16 points and eight rebounds as the Timberwolves beat the Spurs 141-124 for their fifth straight victory.
“Do you believe in coincidences?” Gobert said jokingly afterward. “No, it was great. It was fun. When the ball is moving like that and the mindset is how it was tonight, I think we have a very powerful team.”
Gobert is averaging 11.1 points per game this season, his lowest mark in 10 years. The four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year award winner is in his third year with the Timberwolves. He missed the opportunity Sunday to face fellow Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs center who’s out for the rest of the season with a blood clot in his right shoulder.
