The NBA’s All-Star Game is a showcase with more emphasis on celebrity than substance. But the tears that formed in the corners of Rudy Gobert’s eyes on Friday morning were proof of how much the honor would have meant to him.
The league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year hoped to hear his name called as one of the Western Conference’s seven All-Star reserves on Thursday night. Instead, Gobert turned off his television, frustrated and disrespected by his omission from the list.
“I was surprised,” Gobert said at shootaround on Friday morning. “Obviously, we all know how the league works, the direction the league is heading to.