SALT LAKE CITY — It would be very easy to imagine Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert going through the last four months and coming out the other side bitter, angry and resentful.
It would be understandable if he was defensive, guarded and sharp-tongued. It would make sense if a rift between him and teammates would make him want to leave Utah, to flee from the Jazz and find a new home. But he is none of those things and he doesn’t want to leave.
“I love living here, that’s the No. 1 thing,” Gobert said on Friday in his first meeting with local reporters since his positive COVID-19 test. “No. 2 thing, I want to win. ... The things we’ve been building over the years, it’s something that you don’t see anywhere else. That’s something I take a lot of pride in.
“Yes, it’s not perfect. Yes, a lot of things happened, but I still don’t take anything for granted. I think it’s a great situation for me individually and for my family. It’s something that I think in the future can still be great for myself so, no, I don’t plan on leaving right now. I plan on winning a championship with Utah.”
After becoming the NBA’s first player to test positive for the coronavirus on March 11, an event that led to the league suspending its season and other sports leagues to follow suit, Gobert was largely painted as “patient zero” for sports and a spotlight was shone on him that cast a mostly negative light.
“Obviously, when you have the whole world judging you and threatening you and sending you a lot of negative energy, it’s something that is not easy as a human being,” Gobert said.
A video of Gobert touching reporters microphones — two days before his coronavirus diagnosis — circulated internationally, and his cavalier attitude toward the virus became a punching bag for those with no relationship with Gobert, but also was the source of tension between Gobert and teammate Donovan Mitchell.
At a time when much less was known about the coronavirus and fear ruled the day, Gobert was subject to endless ridicule on social media, and pundits on nearly every major news network shamed his actions in the days following the NBA’s suspension of the season.
“People just judge you on the perception they have or the perception they get from sometimes it can be one picture, one video, one interview, one action,” he said. “People don’t really know you.”
Gobert said the last few months have been tough, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. He pointed out that he isn’t the only one that’s had a difficult time, that everyone has been impacted directly or indirectly by the coronavirus and ongoing social unrest.
“Everything that’s going on, you realize that we need to do better,” he said. “It was kind of like a slap in the face. I think we’re all going to come out of this better as persons.”
The time spent in relative isolation has given Gobert an opportunity to examine how he interacts with the world and to consider the things that are most important to him. Through it all he’s has gained a different and new perspective.
“The good thing is that I’ve had a lot of time to get my mind right, my body right and kind of process everything that happened,” he said. “When we’re all so focused on our personal lives, we take a lot of stuff for granted. ... You realize that there are some things that really matter. That’s who you are as a human being, the people around you, and all the stuff you can do to impact other people positively, and impact a younger generation positively. I realized what was really important in life. I think I really needed that.”
He knows that he won’t be able to control everyone’s perception of him, that there are people who will never know him or understand him, but Gobert said that he’s OK with that. He’s zeroing in on the things that he can control, like the things he does for his community and those closest to him and his actions with his teammates, on and off the court.
As far as the relationship between himself and Mitchell, Gobert echoed a lot of what Mitchell said on Thursday. They are two talented stars on a team that is striving to get better and there is likely to be a certain amount of tension, no matter the situation.
In a vulnerable show of self-awareness, Gobert pointed out that there isn’t any relationship in his life that is easy or without tension. The most important thing is that they have mutual respect and are striving for the same things.
“No one expects it to be perfect — it’s never going to be perfect,” he said. “I’ve never had perfect relationships with my teammates or even family members, pretty much anyone around me. As long as we respect one another and both share the same goals and we both do what’s best for the team, that’s what matters.”
Despite all the negativity and the challenges that Gobert has faced over the last few months, Gobert said that he is happy and healthy.
He noted that he has almost all of his sense of smell back, after losing it in the course of fighting the coronavirus and that more than anything he’s looking forward to being back on the court doing what he loves.
“I’m happy now and I’m in a good place and I’m happy that I get the joy back from playing basketball with my team,” he said. “The competitiveness is back.”