Ex-Nuggets Coach Disrespects Rudy Gobert, Challenges Anthony Edwards

Michael Malone, the former Denver Nuggets coach and now an ESPN analyst, delivered a disrespectful message to Rudy Gobert while commentating on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.

Malone, Kendrick Perkins, and the rest of the ESPN crew were previewing Sunday's matinee between the Wolves and the Los Angeles Clippers when they brought up the tension that was created when head coach Chris Finch publicly put Gobert in his place on Saturday after the big man called out his teammates' effort the day before.

“Don’t bring that added distraction. The other thing I will say is: ain’t nobody listen to Rudy Gobert anyways. This is Anthony Edwards' team. He’s gotta step up. They have not played well. He has to set the tone today, so they can start getting back to playing at a high level."

Mike Malone goes off on Rudy Gobert:

“Don’t bring that added distraction. The other thing I will say is ain’t nobody listen to Rudy Gobert anyways, this is Anthony Edwards team. He’s got to step up, they have not played well, he has to sent the tone today, so they can start… pic.twitter.com/vDckeYGavq
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) February 8, 2026

Gobert is a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, and he's been selected to the NBA's All-Defensive First Team seven times in his career. He's in the running for a fifth career Defensive Player of the Year award this season, and he'll almost surely be named to the first or second All-Defensive team, so for Malone to flat-out say nobody listens to Gobert is about as disrespectful as it gets.

So, what happened between Gobert and Finch to cause a bit of tension?

After Minnesota blew an 18-point lead and lost at home to the lousy Pelicans on Friday, Gobert called out the Wolves' defensive effort more forcefully and directly than anyone has all season.

"We played the right way in the first half, for the most part," Gobert said. "We played hard. And we up 18 and come out to the third and we jog back, we don't contest shots. Just no effort. We've seen that many many times this year, the last few years since I've been here. We always know it's coming. And when it comes, there's no sense of urgency, no accountability. So I think at some point, if the players don't have accountability, someone else gotta have accountability for the players. I'm just talking straight effort. I'm not even getting to the basketball side of things. Mistakes are part of the game. But the effort, to me, for a team that wants to play for a championship, it's unacceptable."

Finch, on Saturday, said he was well aware of Gobert's comments.

"I’d say a couple things. One is, anybody who knows how we do things here knows there's a high degree of accountability. Secondly, I handle all of my conversations with ourselves in-house. Disappointing that he felt the need to go outside," Finch said. "But nonetheless, that’s been addressed already today. There's never been a team that's won anything meaningful that’s substituted their way there."

All of this led to one of the most uninspiring performances of the season in a 115-96 loss at home to the Clippers, who just days earlier traded James Harden and Ivica Zubac.

Gobert had 10 points, seven rebounds, and five turnovers in 30 minutes — and the Wolves were outscored by 16 points when he was on the court. Edwards, meanwhile, had 23 points and was a minus-23 with five turnovers.

The Wolves have lost three of four to fall to 32-22 overall. They're still in sixth place in the West, but only a half-game ahead of seventh-place Phoenix. At the same time, they're only 2.5 games behind third-place Denver.

Minnesota gets a chance to respond when it hosts the Atlanta Hawks at 7 p.m. CT on Monday.

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