Rudy Gobert is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, a two-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection, and last season made the All-NBA Team.
But he has never made the All-Star game.
If he did this season, it would be worth a cool $1 million.
In a story about contract incentives, Andy Larson of the Salt Lake Tribune wrote this:
Ten players on the Jazz have incentives written into their contracts that give them financial bonuses for reaching off-court or on-court benchmarks, far more than any other team in the NBA. For some players, those total in the millions of dollars...
If Gobert is named to the NBA’s first All-Defense team, he’s given an extra $500K. If the Jazz allow fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions while he’s on the floor, Gobert gets another $250K. If he gets enough rebounds per 36 minutes, he gets another $250K.
And if he is named an All-Star starter or reserve, he gets a cool $1 million bonus.
Sorry, but it’s a longshot Gobert makes it this year.
So far in the fan voting, Gobert isn’t even in the top-10 of Western Conference frontcourt players (there is no center designation in the All-Star Game, just three “frontcourt” players). Which is a little unfair, how is he behind DeMarcus Cousins, who has yet to set foot on a court this season? The fan vote is 50 percent of choosing the five starters from the conference, with the media (25 percent) and players (25 percent) making up the rest. However, the press and players are not going to vote Gobert in over Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Nikola Jokic, Paul George and others as starters.
That would leave Gobert’s $1 million in the hands of the coaches, who pick the seven reserves. Usually, three or four of that seven are frontcourt players, but again the West is so deep it’s hard to say Gobert is in. Hypothetically, if LeBron, Durant, and George start the All-Star Game, then Gobert needs one of the remaining spots and Davis and Jokic are two virtual locks in this scenario. That leaves one or two from among Luka Doncic, Karl-Anthony Towns, Gobert, and other guys on the fringe trying to get their hat in the ring such as LaMarcus Aldridge, Tobias Harris, Kyle Kuzma, and Danilo Gallinari. You can make a case for Gobert ahead of a lot of those guys, but with the Jazz off to a disappointing first half of the season it’s a longshot he gets the call.
By the way, the slow start has the Jazz allowing 102.4 points per 100 possessions when Gobert is on the court this season (but the Jazz defense has been much improved of late). All-Defensive voting is an end-of-the-season thing but Gobert will be in the mix.
All this means Gobert will have to get by on his $22.7 million base salary. Don’t shed too many tears for him.