Another limited Olympic outing for Gobert could have big implications

Heading into the Olympic semifinals on Thursday, there were questions surrounding Rudy Gobert's health and availability. The Minnesota Timberwolves center had been limited in Team France's previous matchup with Canada due to a reported ring finger injury.

Gobert had supposedly injured the finger at practice and undergone surgery prior to Tuesday's quarterfinal matchup with Team Canada. As such, he was barely able to play due to recovering from his procedure.

However, a different version of this story was put forth by Draymond Green shortly after we saw it unfold. Draymond claims he understood France's coach to say Rudy was benched and subsequently limited in their win over quarterfinal game due to a matchup issue, and not due to the after-effects of surgery from an injured finger.

Gobert's injury appears to be legitimate

Now, when weighing Draymond's perspective, we have to remember and take into account his clear and obvious bias against Gobert. Green has gone out of his way to deface Rudy publicly before, and his attempt to downplay Rudy's injury could be the latest instance of that type of behavior.

After the results of France's win over Germany on Thursday, it seems we can confidently say that feels like the case. Gobert was once again limited in his team's victory, coming off the bench and playing just five minutes in the whole contest. The likelihood of there being a legitimate matchup issue two games in a row is extremely low, unless France's coaching staff somehow suddenly became afraid of Daniel Theis.

All signs are pointing to Rudy having a legitimate injury to his finger, which would explain the events of the last two games for France. Now, a finger injury is likely to heal relatively quickly compared to other more serious injuries.

However, having a quick surgery and then attempting to play through it may not have been the smartest idea. Of course, no one will blame Rudy for still going hard on Saturday to try and earn his home country a gold medal. But Timberwolves fans will have to hope this does not end up having any implications for next NBA season.