Will Timberwolves Gobert return injured from World Cup competition again?

We know that the Minnesota Timberwolves supports All-Star NBA center Rudy Gobert’s decision to compete for France in the World Cup basketball competition this summer. The thing is, they would rather that he didn’t. And if we are being honest with ourselves, that is the consensus of his teammates and Timberwolves fans as well.

But the Timberwolves are sending four players to the World Cup competition this year, and each player will compete for four different national teams. SG Anthony Edwards will compete for the USA team.  Of course, C Rudy Gobert will compete for France, again. Center Luka Garza will compete for Bosnia. And finally, Nickeil Alexander-Walker will compete for Canada.

Should fans worry about a World Cup injury to Rudy Gobert this year?

And yet, most of the questions about the World Cup competition focused on Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. Like this one:

But is that something Timberwolves fans should fret over?

Well, thankfully, a lot has changed over the course of a year. For starters, this is the 2023-24 NBA season in the front windshield, and this is a new Minnesota Timberwolves roster as a result.

Still, once bitten twice shy, or something like that, right? We know that the Minnesota Timberwolves, despite all of the preseason anticipation and hype, stumbled out of the gates to open the 2022-23 NBA season and never truly seemed to get their feet under them all season long.

Unfortunately, the minor injury to newcomer All-Star center Rudy Gobert had a great deal to do with that sputtering start. So why will things be any different this year? We have three quick reasons to help assuage your fears.