Gobert Expresses Empathy for Green

On December 15, 2023, following news that Draymond Green had received an indefinite suspension for striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić, Rudy Gobert offered a surprising tone in public comments carried by CBS Sports. Gobert said, “I have empathy for him... you see somebody that's not well inside and suffering... you want somebody to be well...” while also supporting measures to keep players safe on the court [8]. The remarks stood in contrast to his November 14 postgame critique of Green’s headlock—where he labeled it “clown behavior” and alleged that Green seeks ejections when Stephen Curry sits—signaling a more nuanced view of Green’s situation when the incident did not involve him directly [2][8]. The CBS Sports piece also recapped elements of the pair’s prior history, including Green’s earlier jabs about Gobert’s 2019 tears (“You can’t cry, Chuck”) that had been aired on TNT and highlighted in other outlets’ retrospectives [8][7]. In the ongoing chronology of their rivalry, Gobert’s December 2023 comments injected empathy and concern into a storyline otherwise dominated by mockery, mirrored subtweets, and a five-game suspension rendered after Green grabbed Gobert around the neck [1][2][6][5].

Gobert’s empathetic stance reframed the feud as more than a binary of taunts and reprisals. By acknowledging concern for Green’s well-being while still emphasizing player safety, Gobert complicated the narrative and added dimension to future interpretations of their interactions [8]. The comments also served as a counterweight to Green’s "no regrets" defense of the November 14 incident, offering a different tone from the other principal in the rivalry and signaling that public positions can evolve depending on the context of the incident and who is affected [3][8].

Following these comments, the Green–Gobert feud remained a media reference point into 2024, with ESPN’s May 2024 feature summarizing their mirrored “Insecurity is always loud” posts and broader perceptions of Gobert among peers [5][6]. There has been no documented private reconciliation or meeting, but the record shows that Gobert’s most recent public note toward Green was empathetic, while Green had recently maintained a loyalty-based justification regarding the Gobert headlock [8][3]. The mixture of empathy and unresolved issues leaves the rivalry active in public narratives without a formal resolution [5][8][3].