The Utah Jazz aren’t going to let Rudy Gobert’s knee injury go.
The superstar big man will miss the next four to six weeks after injuring his knee on Sunday in a loss against the Miami Heat. Contact with Dion Waiters’ was the culprit of his setback, and many have questioned whether the incident included malicious intent. Waiters was diving for the ball, yes, but a second glance does seem to suggest he could have done more to avoid Gobert’s right knee—or that he may have, in fact, aimed for it:
If you think this is good, clean hustle, there's a bridge in Miami I'd like to sell you… pic.twitter.com/rfLR8zTRPc
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) November 12, 2017
The Jazz thought along these same lines after watching the play. According to the Salt Lake Tribune‘s Tony Jones, they went as far as contacting the NBA about the incident, albeit it to no avail:
Tribune sources: The Jazz after reviewing video of the play where Gobert was injured, went to the league office with their displeasure. They were told Dion Waiters should've been called for a foul, but that it was not an intentional foul
— tribjazz (@tribjazz) November 12, 2017
Tribune sources: The Jazz after reviewing video of the play where Gobert was injured, went to the league office with their displeasure. They were told Dion Waiters should've been called for a foul, but that it was not an intentional foul
— tribjazz (@tribjazz) November 12, 2017
Tribune sources: The Jazz after reviewing video of the play where Gobert was injured, went to the league office with their displeasure. They were told Dion Waiters should've been called for a foul, but that it was not an intentional foul
— tribjazz (@tribjazz) November 12, 2017
Tribune sources: The Jazz after reviewing video of the play where Gobert was injured, went to the league office with their displeasure. They were told Dion Waiters should've been called for a foul, but that it was not an intentional foul
— tribjazz (@tribjazz) November 12, 2017
“I didn’t even know that was him,” Waiters said. “I went for the ball, making a basketball play. He [goes] right to social media. I ain’t a social media guy. At the end of the day, that [expletive] don’t matter. Tell him to get out of his feelings. We won, they lost. So what.”
Quite the reaction. But you can understand why Waiters would be frustrated should he believe that he didn’t collide with Gobert on purpose. A little sympathy might be nice. Then again, he has people calling him “dirty,” so offering an apology might be (mistakenly) used to infer guilt.
Either way, this situation is a shitty one for the Jazz. Making Waiters the focus of the ire won’t change that. Their offense is a painful disaster plagued by the absence of a go-to scorer, while their defense stands to crumble over a four-to-six-week period without one of the NBA’s premier stoppers in the middle. Should the Jazz inevitably fall outside the Western Conference’s playoff picture, look to this injury, to this stretch, as the reason why.
And then, if you’re a Heat fan, brace yourself. Because more vitriol will surely be aimed in Waiters’ direction.
