Rudy Gobert inks $110M Timberwolves extension right before season opener

The Timberwolves have locked in Rudy Gobert to a new deal. Shortly before Minnesota kicked off their 2024-25 season in Los Angeles, Gobert agreed to a three-year, $110 million contract extension, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.The deal was finalized just before tipoff Tuesday night and came after Gobert had declined a $46.6 million player option for 2025-26. The contract extension includes a player option for 2027-28 and a trade kicker, according to the report. Getting a deal done with Gobert that keeps him in the Twin Cities for the long haul had been a priority of Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who had said as much late last month to reporters. “We’ve had some nice discussions with Rudy.Certainly, we want him to be here as long as he wants to be here.

And we hope he ends his career here,” Connelly said at the time. The T-Wolves star is coming off his eighth consecutive season in which he averaged a double-double. In 76 regular season games last year, Gobert had averaged 14.0 points and 12.9 rebounds along with 2.1 blocks per game. He had played a massive role in the Timberwolves’ run to the Western Conference Finals, marking just the second time in franchise history they advanced past the first round. Gobert has been named an NBA All-Star three times and has been an All-NBA selection four times over his 11 years in the league. The Frenchman was selected by the Jazz in the 2013 NBA Draft and was traded to the Timberwolves in 2022 as part of a blockbuster deal....