Here are my thoughts, though I’d certainly like to distance them from the backdrop of the more extreme statements. Qualify this by saying I don’t think it’s a big deal, but it’s a small variable that’s there in the background:
This was Gobert’s team. When he signed his extension and then Hayward waffles on his, Hayward went into a shell for a few weeks and Gobert exploded. I felt it was clear he was saying this was his team and sending a message. Then we had some success, ended lob-city, and essentially the entire fan base went into Stayward mode. Gobert was the backbone of the team and then the snake getting all the attention snaked us in the ***. Enter Donovan. Donovan comes in and near immediately fills the Hayward void. The team still struggles, though, and it’s not until Gobert’s return that he puts the team on his back and propels a historic come back to return to the playoffs and oust OKC. All the while, Donovan is the face of the franchise nationally. That summer, Donovan starts to increase his brand recognition, make many media appearances, and represent the league, rather than just the Jazz.
Fast forward to last year and Rudy is snubbed from the all-star game. Donovan tweets out how it’s okay because they were both snubbed (something like that), and Gobert may feel that Donovan may not fully understand and that DM hadn’t fully paid his dues like Rudy had.
You now have a team that can only go as far as it can go on the back of Rudy as the foundation piece, yet there’s no national media on him. Donovan having a breakout year and attracting media attention nationally, while the team has some struggles that, in some part, is due to not having the offense fully utilize Rudy. Injuries to Steph and other guards means DM may be lock for all-star, while Gobert may again be snubbed. There may be a small part of Gobert that feels all his hard work and recognition is absorbed up in the national attention of Donovan without anyone seeing Gobert as the driving force behind a lot of it, and Donovan not showing as much awareness of that but continuing to promote his brand.
As an analogy, it’s like they’re in a band, and Gobert has written the music and the lyrics, but Donovan sings as is front and center, and everyone’s pushing a solo career, not realizing that Rudy is the one behind the music they love.
Anyway, I’ll again qualify that I don’t believe this is a big thing. Both guys want to win. But I believe at some level these thoughts exist — have existed — and this is nothing new.
