Princewill Pius
While Rudy Gobert made headlines when he became the first known NBA player to test positive for the coronavirus — triggering the NBA’s suspended season — he’s actually been making waves in the NBA for years.
Gobert was born and raised in Saint-Quentin, Aisne, which is in the north of France. Before coming to the United States, Gobert honed his basketball skills in France. From 2009 until 2013, he played for the Cholet Basket junior team, a professional basketball club based in Cholet, France. In 2013, Gobert decided to take his talents abroad and declared for the NBA draft. On June 27, 2013, Gobert was initially selected by the Denver Nuggets as the 27th overall pick. However, on draft night, he was traded to the Utah Jazz. After just three years with the team, the NBA player signed a “four-year contract extension worth $102 million,” per ESPN.
Even though Gobert is making a pretty penny as a center for the Jazz, for him, it’s not all about the money. Throughout his career, the 27-year-old has explained how important it is to make his parents proud. Gobert told The Undefeated, that his career “means everything” to his father, who was a basketball player with dreams of making it to the NBA. “I can see how proud he is to watch me on television. When I talk about it with him, I feel like I am living his dream. I’m carrying his dream that he wasn’t able to fulfill.”
However, due to his coronavirus diagnosis, Gobert’s NBA career has been put on hold.
Written by: Nicki
