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MINNEAPOLIS — Rudy Gobert couldn't help but smile in amusement.
He had just been told that Jordan Clarkson, his former teammate and still good friend, had a message for him ahead of their reunion game in Minnesota on Friday.
"If he gets on a switch, I'm gonna try to bust his (expletive)," Clarkson playfully said on Thursday before the Jazz flew off to Minnesota for their first game against his former teammate.
If Gobert wasn't already excited to face his old team, he sure was after hearing that.
"Now that he said that, I'm gonna make sure I end up on a switch," Gobert said. "He definitely has all the tools to give me a few buckets, but I'm gonna make sure they're not easy ones."
There's now a friendly game within the game brewing when Gobert faces his former team for the first time since the blockbuster trade that sent him to Minnesota.
That, alone, helps illustrate how the moments surrounding the game may be more significant than the contest itself.
The Jazz and Wolves are on two different paths. Utah traded Gobert as part of a reset that will take years; Minnesota is going all-in right now. The result of a late-October contest won't mean much for either club, but it provided a chance for Gobert and his former teammates (of which only four remain) a chance to reflect.
"Just the whole process, me getting there almost as a kid and all the ups and downs," Gobert said when asked what stood out about his time in Utah. "Obviously, the playoff wins, the process to go from being a lottery team to being a top team in a league. All that. It was great — grateful for all the experiences."
They're experiences that have kept him close to Mike Conley, Clarkson and others, even after the trade.
Clarkson said he talked with Gobert a lot over the summer, and especially during France's run through EuroBasket. Because of that, Clarkson was a little shocked he didn't get Gobert blowing up his phone after the All-Star center hit a near 3-point floater during his Minnesota debut on Wednesday.
"He probably watched it like 50 times in the locker room," Clarkson said as he started to laugh. "I'm surprised he didn't send me a clip yet. It's gonna be good to see him. It's always good to see the guys you played with. ... It's always love. Jazz man always, you dig?"
Gobert said he wasn't taken aback by any of the moves the Jazz made this summer. He knew it was a high probability that things were going to be shaken up after the early playoff exit and Quin Snyder leaving. The team, while consistently good, had failed to meet their own lofty expectations, and there didn't appear to be a path to getting better with the same core.
"I knew Danny (Ainge) had a lot of things on his mind and was trying to do what he thought was good for the future of the franchise and for the ownership," Gobert said. "So I was prepared."
So where did it go wrong in Utah? Gobert doesn't think of it that way. He said the organization just chose to try a different route.
"I don't know if you can call it a problem — we'd been really, really good," he said. "I just think sometimes you miss that window and it can't last forever, so you gotta make decisions. Whether they were going to keep me or trade me, they had to make a choice and they made a choice."
A choice that may lead to the Jazz having another tall Frenchman on the Vivint Arena marquee. And if trading Gobert leads to Utah getting presumed No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, even Gobert would say that was worth it.
"He's something that we've never seen before. I'm excited to keep watching him grow and see what he's going to turn into but it's going to be unique there — a player the world has never seen," said Gobert of his national team pupil.
Gobert is that in his own right; he's a generational defender that can make a claim to being the best rim protector the game has ever seen. He's made a career of taking players out of their comfort zones, but it was he who faced that when the trade happened. He had spent his whole career in Utah, he knew the city and knew the people — and then suddenly everything changed.
"When you get used to something, you realize you lose a little comfort," Gobert said. "It's a process, but it's what life is about. I think those moments, the moments when you get out of your comfort zone, is when you grow the most. And I've been very grateful for Minnesota and how they've been treating me. It's been great so far."
Gobert has more to smile about than just a fun quote from a former teammate. The former Utah All-Star has found joy in his new home.
"I'm really happy, really grateful, and really excited," Gobert said. "I'm really excited about this new adventure. Everything happens for a reason. I'm happy."
