Hall-of-Famer roasts Rudy Gobert after gaffe during Olympics

Rudy Gobert is universally loved among Minnesota Timberwolves fans, but the same sadly cannot be said for other NBA fans. Rudy is a frequent target of criticism for one reason or another. He has been monumentally successful in his 11-year professional career, but naysayers love to poke fun at him.

Much of the hate for Gobert may come from the fact that he owns a record-tying four Defensive Player of the Year awards. Or it could be the fact that he is a foreign player competing in the NBA, which undoubtedly creates some animosity among those viewers or even players who feel threatened by global basketball talent rising.

But regardless of the reasons, it is clear for even the biggest Rudy Gobert hater to see that he catches more undeserved criticism than perhaps any player in the league. The latest instance of this occurred on Saturday during Team France's first game of group play at the Olympics.

Shaq poked fun at Gobert on social media

Rudy was on the receiving end of a lob dunk in Team France's win over Brazil. After the moment went viral, reactions came flooding in from every corner of social media. To the surprise of probably no one, Shaquille O'Neal chimed in as well.

Shaq reposted a meme from @basketballgoated on Instagram that depicted Gobert as a Walmart employee with the caption, "Rudy Gobert if he wasn't 7-foot-1." Of course, this is nothing more than typical hater behavior from the likes of O'Neal.

Over the years, Shaq has done a very poor job of concealing his distaste for Rudy, taking seemingly every opportunity to mock him publicly. So it was almost to be expected that he would react in a predictable way to this particular play.

Ironically enough, Gobert was only in position to get dunked on after hustling to sprint down the floor and attempting to make a defensive play. Those who know basketball will understand that the players who get dunked on most are typically the ones who consistently try hard to make a play, occasionally ending up on the wrong end of a highlight.