Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was the first player in the league to sign COVID-19 in March, something that shut down league operations minutes after his positive test returned.
While the coronavirus was always going to hit the NBA, Gobert’s case is a bit unusual, especially given how he acted with the media just days before his positive test.
Gobert jokingly tried to play every microphone and recording device in front of him before leaving the room after a press conference in March, clearly making the global pandemic clear.
Naturally, given the way he later tested positive, that prank didn’t go well, and he still feels the repercussions months later.
“I’m someone who jokes all the time,” said Gobert, via the Salt Lake Tribune. “The people who really know me know my heart. Playing the microphones made me look bad. It’s about perception … It made me look like someone who doesn’t care about other people’s lives. “
Gobert’s joke didn’t stop there. He reportedly touched the players and their belongings in the locker room repeatedly, even after the severity of the virus had been stressed for the team.
His teammate Donovan Mitchell later contracted the virus, he is unknown, and it will never be known, whether it is Gobert’s fault or not, and he was extremely frustrated with him for a long time. At one point, their relationship reportedly “did not seem salvageable.”
However, Mitchell said the two got past him on Thursday and are ready to play when the league resumes its season later this month at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida.
Gobert echoed those thoughts on Friday.
“No one expects it to be perfect, and it will never be perfect. I have never had perfect relationships, with my teammates or even family members or almost anyone around me, ”said Gobert, via the Salt Lake Tribune. “But, you know, as long as we respect each other and share the same goals and we both do our best for the team, that’s what matters.”
Gobert was averaging 15.1 points and 13.7 rebounds this season, his seventh in the league, when the game was suspended. The 28-year-old, who was twice named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, has one season left on his four-year, $ 102 million contract with the Jazz, with whom he spent his entire NBA career. The team is ready to enter the NBA restart with a record of 41-23, the fourth best in the Western Conference.
Although he admits that it was not easy from the beginning, Gobert realized that he cannot control how people outside the organization or the NBA see him. You also might not be able to get rid of the reputation of being the player who jokingly played all the microphones before closing.
So, you’re done trying.
You are ready to leave the incident behind and just focus on what you can control.
“People just judge you by the perception they have, and the perception they get from … it could be a photo, a video, an interview, an action,” said Gobert, via the Salt Lake Tribune. “People don’t really know you … The people around me really know me and know who I am. And that’s what matters to me.
“At the end of the day, I will not be able to control everyone’s perception of me, but I can control my actions, I can control the things I do for the people around me, for the community, the things I do for my teammates in the court, off the court. All that I can control. And that’s what really matters to me. “
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, the first NBA player to contract the coronavirus, is ready to put it behind him. (Alex Goodlett / Getty Images)
Related
