Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert’s flagrant-foul history has him near a suspension

Rudy Gobert finds himself in a unique position this season.

The Timberwolves center has to navigate the rest of the season without picking up another flagrant foul, or else he will face suspension from the NBA.

After committing flagrant fouls in back-to-back games Saturday and Monday, Gobert is one flagrant-foul point away from a one-game suspension and two points from a two-game suspension.

Gobert has committed four flagrant fouls this season for a total of five points, since the NBA assigns a point value to each flagrant (one or two points) based on the severity of the foul. Gobert picked up a flagrant two in Monday’s loss to Phoenix when official Tyler Ford said Gobert made “significant” contact to the ribs of Phoenix center Mark Williams while Williams was in the air.

Gobert was ejected after the play was reviewed. Gobert and coach Chris Finch said Wednesday they thought the foul could have been assessed as a flagrant one.

“There was an intent to foul, but I don’t feel like it was meant to really hit him in the rib to hurt him,” Gobert said. “It was more like to take away his momentum and contest the shot. They deemed that it was winding up. I didn’t feel like it.

“I just felt like it was just maybe a very physical foul. But I hope he’s doing OK. It seems like he was doing OK after that. It was just, to me, a physical basketball play.”

Gobert said multiple times he was not trying to injure anybody with the way he plays, and he said it won’t alter the way he plays defense. Finch said the team talked to Gobert about not letting his emotions get the best of him at times, but that Gobert also has a right to defend himself against a lot of uncalled contact against him.

“Sometimes it’s hard. I think people try to take a piece out of Rudy a lot,” Finch said. “And we try to protect him, sometimes he’s got to protect himself.”

Since re-entering the rotation after a toe injury, Terrence Shannon Jr. has struggled to find a consistent rhythm beyond an 18-point performance against Oklahoma City on Nov. 26. When asked about that, Finch pointed to Shannon’s defense instead of his offense as the main reason he is inconsistent.

Shannon picked up three fouls in just three minutes, 38 seconds of playing time Monday.

“It’s largely rooted in readiness,” Finch said. “He’s a great athlete. He’s probably spent a lot of his time making up ground with his closing speed. It’s a dangerous habit to get into at this level, the guys that have either equal or greater athleticism, but also teams that execute well and can take advantage of that.