OCTOBER 25: Gobert’s extension with the Timberwolves is now official, the team announced today in a press release.
Gobert was permitted to sign the contract after the regular season began because it’s a veteran extension and he declined his 2025/26 player option as part of the agreement.
The deal begins at $35MM in 2025/26 and increases to $36.5MM in ’26/27, with a $38MM player option for ’27/28, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter links), who adds that Gobert’s trade kicker is worth 7.5%.
OCTOBER 22: The Timberwolves and center Rudy Gobert have agreed to a three-year, $110MM contract extension, Shams Charania of ESPN tweets.
The move comes on the heels of Minnesota trading away Gobert’s frontcourt partner, Karl-Anthony Towns, this offseason at the start of Towns’ max extension, which created more long-term cap flexibility for the club.
Gobert, 32, is scheduled to make $43,827,587 this season on his current deal. He had a $46,655,173 option for the 2025/26 season, which he’ll decline and replace with a smaller number in order to lock in two additional years beyond that.
The new extension will include a player option for 2027/28, as well as a trade kicker, Charania adds (Twitter link).
Minnesota will get some cap relief with Gobert declining that 2025/26 option, giving the team more flexibility to make moves next offseason. Julius Randle and Naz Reid, the team’s other main frontcourt players, could become free agents if they decline their own ’25/26 player options next summer.
Gobert is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, having won the award for a fourth time this past spring. After a rocky first season with the organization following the blockbuster deal between Minnesota and Utah, Gobert settled in last season and played an integral role on a team which reached the Western Conference Finals.
Gobert is also one of the more durable players in the league by current standards. He hasn’t appeared in fewer than 66 regular season games since the 2018/19 season.
Last season, he made 76 starts and averaged 14.0 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per night. He also started 15 postseason games, averaging 12.1 PPG and 9.8 RPG.
The Wolves had a +8.0 net rating during the regular season when Gobert was on the court, compared to a +3.0 mark when he sat. During the playoffs, that gap increased to +9.8 in the center’s minutes and -6.3 when he on the bench.
WOW !!! In Gobert we trust.
Didn’t they just extend him? I wanna say last summer or sometime last season?
When you look at basketball reference it shows conflicting information. His last “transaction” was the Utah contract yet “current” contracts show this season and next as a 2-year agreement? Not sure the answer to your question. This is where Luke comes in LOL
I wonder if there was some kind of trade kicker in that Utah extension from 2020? The deal to Minnesota allowed a 2-year additional agreement to kick in? Not sure if that’s legal or not?
@Gary: Basketball Reference is often missing tons of information for the Transactions section. The Transactions section for all of the Sports Reference sites is their most neglected areas. Baseball is the most accurate, followed by Basketball, then Football, which is practically useless given how much information is missing.
imo, a much better place for transactional info is Spotrac.
rct.., thank you !!
Last time he signed a contract was with the Jazz back in 2020. It was a five-year deal that went into effect in 2021/22, so he’s still on the fourth year of it.
Thank you Luke. My reading comprehension on some of those statistical and numbers websites leaves a lot to be desired. Thank you for the clarification.
I guess, it’s a good win-win for the TWOLVES and Gobert.
By the way, speaking of the Wolves, Julius Randle is horrible. I don’t know how he puts up those numbers in the past but the guy is just unbelievably ineffective on both ends considering he’s making mega dollars.
I think most of us have been saying this for a few years but wow watching The Wolves tonight it’s just painfully obvious the guy lacks physical ability to be a good player on a championship team.
He’s really a stat stuffer on an average team but again, I don’t know how he does it. I guess it’s just that mid-range shot around the foul line that he’s perfected?
I wasn’t a fan of the trade from the Wolves perspective but that’s because they gave up the most talented player involved in the trade and it didn’t make much sense because the team was coming off a trip to the WXF and towns was a key factor that got them there.
Randle is a good basketball player though. The Knicks were 29-17 with him in the starting lineup last season as compared to as compared to 21-15 without. The Knicks had three straight winning seasons with him as the leading or second leading scorer.
I respect that opinion and somehow the numbers prove it.
But wow, when I watch the dude play I’m not seeing it at all. The dude doesn’t pass my eyeball test and I would consider him a liability on a championship contender.
I’m going to give him a break tonight since this is his first game since injury. Preseason does help and he got a game in.
I agree otherwise. He’s not gonna get the same looks or shots on this team with much better shooters. He’s gonna need to find his role.
The trade was all about the 1st and DiVincenzo, Randle was salary. He’s a vet though and the knowledge and experience is always something.
It’s a bit of both. Randle has extremely high physical strength and is impossibly agile for a guy as bulky as him. But he has low BBIQ and is somewhat uncoordinated, which combine to make him appear way clumsier than his actual physical ability. Kind of the same thing as Rudy Gobert.
It also doesn’t help that the Lakers blitzed him every time he had the ball, which forced him to make quick decisions, something he’s never been good at. Randle’s at his best when he can take his time and has space to operate. The Lakers defense gave him neither last night. And he’s not a great outside shooter, so he can’t really generate the options himself. That’s why he worked so well with Brunson. Ant’s great, but they didn’t mesh well last night. We’ll see if Finch can fix that. Randle’s greater court vision and passing ability does theoretically give the Wolves more options than with Kat, despite the loss of spacing.
What to look is the times he is the primary defender and the guy just misses. That only shows up in the +/-. Yea he gets dunked on. Because he tries on defense.
Ignore highlights.
Gary, dollars to donuts that Randle stays in Minnesota for a few years
1. No way can the TWolves management, let Randle walk and have only DeVincenzo to show for giving up KAT. Professional suicide.
2. This is Chris Finch’s guy, as the article above says. Finch knows Randle well and pushed for the deal.
Yeah you wonder ?????
You really don’t know how he puts up those numbers.
Wow: 3 yrs at $36M/yr! I can’t help but think of how much more likely this makes it to trade Gobert.
Watching the new-look TWolves right now, and without Towns they lack outside shooting. No way they can win playing Randall and Gobert together inside. But Naz Reid van be paired with either, a much better fit.
The Wolves are still in the red, and they cannot afford all 3 of Randle, Gobert, and Naz Reid. Reid is due for an extension, probably in excess of $30M and Randall needs $45M.
If the Wolves can extend Randle and Reid this season, maybe they trade Rudy.
The wolves are hanging their hat on Rudy Gobert and probably Naz also. This article confirms that with the extension he signed.
Randle was an unfortunate part of the Towns trade but necessary because of salary. Randle is horrible, everyone on the face of the planet can see that. He will be allowed to walk at the first possible moment.
The Wolves won’t trade Rudy. They traded Towns instead. They already made the choice.
Everyone can shoot other than Gobert and Randle. And Randle was 5/6 last game. Ant, DV, Reid, Con, Walker, Jaden, Ingles. They all shoot and that’s the entire rotation.
KAT had a huge contract, and last time Wolves traded a contract was Wiggans, and they gave up a top 10 pick along with nothing in return basically. So this trade was awesome even though Randle is hard to watch.
I just wonder if they can keep Edwards after they get the chip this year, or will he go straight to the NFL?
Wolves are getting no chip
MIN is in the way down!
Trading their best player and overpaying for a center that gets thumped by all the good centers in the league… SMH!
Way to go, right?
Edwards is their best player. They did not trade him.
El Don Always Wrong, there’s a lot going on with the Wolves right now. They’re trying to sell the team, get their finances straightened out in regards to that, and meet the requests of the buyers as a third thing concerning the team payroll.
With all of that clouding the team they still made the Western Conference finals last year. Sure they lost one of their best offensive weapons but they navigated a difficult scenario and have hopefully landed onto a good spot.
I think the wolves are looking good and there should be no problem getting a high seed again. Perhaps their defense has improved and key guys will be on the floor more often and team efficiency will be more consistent this year as their youth matures.
Minny is a team in progress. Give them time to find their chemistry. Can’t judge on one game. Rudy is a good move. IMO both Knicks and Wolves are a better team. Both need time to prove it.
I get people love to rag on Rudy. But 5+ times a game he makes really good defensive plays. And that’s 10pts which can decide games.
It’s more exciting to see dunks and 3pt jacks 100 times a game but for $35m it’s not an expensive gamble. They’ll be paying Reid that next year I’m sure.
Wemby the real dpoy…