Photo by MAXIME GRUSS/AFP via Getty Images
Olympic games stats: 8.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 57.6 FG% in 12 games
Accolades: Silver medal at the 2020 Olympics, silver medal at the 2022 Eurobasket, bronze medal at the 2014 World Cup, 2019 World Cup and 2015 Eurobasket
Another player who’ll have huge expectations on his shoulders this summer will be Gobert, who will be playing in his home country and looking to finally reach the mountaintop he has come oh so close to various times already.
Gobert has come agonizingly close to winning gold with the French National Team many times already in his career, having to settle for a silver medal at the most recent Olympics after falling to Team USA in the gold-medal game by merely an 87-82 final marker. France had already beaten the Americans in that very tournament, too, in the opening group-stage match for both teams, as well as in a pre-tournament exhibition between the two basketball powers, so gold was there for the taking for France.
That USA squad wasn’t at the level this year’s is, either, with Draymond Green and Zach LaVine starting for the team and the likes of Keldon Johnson and JaVale McGee getting minutes. We’re not trying to knock those guys too harshly, they’re all good-to-very-good players, but that squad paled in comparison – at least in terms of personal accolades – to the team USA is bringing to the 2024 Olympics.
That’s to say, Gobert and France had maybe their best chance at gold in basketball at the 2020 Olympics and just missed out. Might they be able to do it this summer instead, with Wembanyama now in the fold?
Regardless, you have to consider Gobert one of the all-time greats in FIBA tournaments, winning so much notable hardware for France even without the final missing piece: the gold medal. Gobert remains an elite player in the NBA, so we expect a huge tournament out of him in front of his home crowd.