Rudy Gobert compares himself to... LeBron James

It’s not a secret that public figures are always under heavy scrutiny. Celebrities and athletes get paid a lot of money, way more than the average person will make in his lifetime, and that makes analysts and the media think as that gives them the right to criticize them left and right. That trend keeps growing around the NBA, with former players like Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley constantly going at younger players, calling them out and claiming that they’re not actually that good.

A guy that’s often been on the losing end of those kinds of discussions is Rudy Gobert. Gobert recently signed a huge contract extension with the Utah Jazz, prompting criticism from his former colleagues who think he’s not worthy of that kind of money.

Gobert – being a defensive specialist and rim protector – isn’t exactly the flashiest player or a guy that’ll score 25 points any given night, so I get where they come from. Then again, as former stars of the league, they should know that there is more to the game than just scoring.

Rudy Gobert Says He Handles Criticism Like LeBron James

That’s why the French big man has been unfazed by the criticism. Recently, he reached out to Sam Amick of The Athletic to say that he’s taken a page out of LeBron James’ book and just doesn’t let the haters get under his skin:

“And obviously the better you get, the more people talk and the more people are either going to praise you or adopt you or criticize you, so I kind of started to embrace it and take every kind of criticism as, in a way, a compliment,” Gobert started. “I mean, look at LeBron. He was actually the most criticized player of our generation, and he’s the one who has accomplished the most, so I would say when you start playing well, you’re going to have a lot of people criticize you and people praising you. But you can’t let that affect you.”

The Utah Jazz may indeed have overpaid for Gobert’s services. It’s also true that he’s one of the best rim protectors in the league and a guy they need to anchor their defense if they want to win a ring.