While the rest of the NBA, except the Minnesota Timberwolves, appear silent over Rudy Gobert's Defensive Player of the Year win on Tuesday, Dwight Howards takes a different route.
Howard, currently playing for the Mets de Guaynabo of Puerto Rico, won DPOY three times.
Gobert's award means he leaped over the Orlando Magic great.
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Instead of feeling bitter about getting leapfrogged by the French tower, Howard feels happy for him.
He even dared the 7'1 center to win it all this year.
"Congrats Rudy ️From one DPOY to another I will say this has been the greatest defense I've seen out of all the other times you've won! Get that ring this year then go for another and be the only one with 5! Im telling y'all that Darkness retreat will turn you into a different animal ," Howard wrote on X.
The lack of a congratulatory message for Gobert is expected. After all, his peers voted him the "Most Overrated" player in a recent poll by the Athletic.
The sports publication asked 142 players about their assessment of the league, and Gobert came out with the most votes in the question of who is the most overrated.
The publication credited this view of Gobert to his lack of playoff success and offensive prowess.
Regardless of the way his peers view him, Gobert is loved by the media and other NBA analysts.
He is also aware of the way he is perceived in the league.
"In their eyes, I'm more like the odd guy from France that's winning a lot of awards, and it can bother people," Gobert said in early April during an interview with ESPN's Tim MacMahon.
"I impact the games in a very unique way. It's maybe not as cool or not as flashy as some other guys, so it's sometimes harder for them to respect that. I just think I'm just mostly misunderstood. I think I trigger a lot of these guys."
Gobert now has four DPOYs to reach the most number of Defensive Player of the Win Awards by a player in NBA history.
The two other players who won it four times were Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo.
He can win a fifth DPOY award in the next seasons to separate himself from everyone else.
Another thing he can do is to make his naysayers even more insecure, as his team is still in the hunt for an NBA title.
Rudy Gobert's status for Game 3
Gobert missed the Wolves' Game 2 victory over the Nuggets to attend the birth of his first child.
He almost made it to Denver, but his flight was delayed.
He is expected to return to the lineup and help the team bury the defending champs deeper.
Jokic, an enigma for most throughout the regular season, is having difficulty solving the puzzle of Gobert-Naz Reid-Karl Anthony Towns.
Games 3 and 4 will take place at the Target Center. Game 5, if necessary, will be at the Ball Arena.
Related article: Timberwolves' Rudy Gobert Makes NBA History After Winning Defensive Player of the Year Once Again
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