After picking up his fifth flagrant foul of the season on a reckless closeout against Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert is set to be suspended for Tuesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks. This will presumably lead to rookie center Joan Beringer getting meaningful minutes for the first time in his career.
Rudy Gobert picks up a flagrant foul penalty one for not giving Wemby a landing space here.
— Charlie Walton (@CharlieWaltonMN) January 12, 2026
It's his fifth flagrant this season, so he will be suspended for Tuesday's game in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, Wemby drills four free throws to put the Spurs back up 10.
Nightmare. pic.twitter.com/R7DpPqUMJI
The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off a comeback win despite Gobert's flagrant, putting the San Antonio Spurs up 10 with 7:24 minutes to go.
However, the bigger picture (and real concern) is that each flagrant foul from here on out, Gobert will face a two-game suspension. Since Gobert has five flagrants 40 games into the season, it's hard to imagine that he won't at least record one more flagrant before the season ends. As such, Gobert will likely be suspended again for multiple games.
The Wolves' defense has struggled immensely with Gobert off the court, and if he's suspended (again), which feels likely, Minnesota could lose some ground in a loaded Western Conference. Everyone deals with their best players missing time, though, and the Timberwolves must be able to manage playing without Gobert. Nevertheless, this could be a key problem for the Wolves.
The Timberwolves have struggled in the non-Gobert minutes
Per Cleaning the Glass, Minnesota's defense is 16.2 points per 100 possessions better with Gobert on the court, a number that ranks in the 100th percentile. To put this into perspective, the Timberwolves have a 124.2 defensive rating (equivalent to the league's worst defense) with Gobert off the floor and a 108 DRTG with Gobert on the court (equivalent to the league's second-best defense).
Undoubtedly, this gives Gobert a clear case to win a record-breaking fifth Defensive Player of the Year award. Regardless, the non-Gobert minutes have been one of the biggest problems for the Timberwolves this season, and playing without him for a full game (or multiple games) could prove to be devastating.
Perhaps the Wolves figure out that Beringer is the solution to the non-Gobert minutes. On the surface, he provides more rim protection than Julius Randle and Naz Reid. However, he's also a raw 19-year-old who just started playing basketball in 2021. It's a clear silver lining that we will see Beringer play real minutes, but if he proves to be too green, the Wolves' defense (and subsequently the team as a whole) will struggle.
And since Gobert's suspension likely won't be a one-off occurrence, this could prove to be a significant issue for the Wolves. As noted earlier, the Western Conference standings are extremely tight, so every game matters. Currently, with a 26-14 record, the Wolves are the fourth seed, but they are just two games ahead of the seventh seed. Similarly, last year, just four games separated the second and eighth seed.
The point is that in the West, each game matters, and Gobert being suspended (possibly somewhat frequently) could be problematic for the Wolves.