France benched Rudy Gobert to save its Olympics basketball run

France benched Rudy Gobert to pull off two huge upsets in the Olympics.

Rudy Gobert has been the star player during the best years in the history of France men’s basketball. With Gobert as its starting center, France won a silver medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 Eurobasket, and took home bronze in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Even as Gobert collected Defensive Player of the Year awards, All-Star nods, and All-NBA bids in the NBA, he always made time to play for his national team.

Gobert was again a headline name in France’s run in the 2024 Paris Olympics. There was only one problem: with Gobert as its starting big man, France’s offense consistently looked like it was stuck in the mud. It was a miracle the host country even made the knockout rounds after needing a four-point play and questionable ejection on star Rui Hachimura just to beat Japan in the group stages.

When it reached the knockout rounds, France coach Vincent Collet made a bold decision: Gobert would be benched — not only pulled out of the starting lineup, but barely figuring into the rotation.

Suddenly, France is playing for a gold medal after pulling off two huge upsets that featured far greater speed and spacing, and a lot less Gobert.

France beat Germany, 73-69, in a thrilling semifinal finish to punch its ticket to the gold medal game. France needed to upset Canada in the quarterfinals just to get that far. We ranked Canada and Germany as the second and third best teams in the Olympics basketball tournament, and France somehow pulled off a pair of upsets to give itself a shot at gold.

It’s an unbelievable turnaround for a French team that looked so lifeless and stagnant in group play, and it’s even wilder it’s happened after benching Gobert.

Here are Gobert’s numbers combined in the wins against Canada and Germany in the knockout rounds:

• 9 minutes
• 0 points
• 2 rebounds

France pulled Gobert and Evan Fournier out of the starting lineup after group rounds. Gobert apparently had an injured finger on his left hand. He claimed he had surgery on that finger ahead of the quarterfinals against Canada, but his head coach immediately disputed the report and said Gobert wasn’t in the lineup based on matchups.

Guerschon Yabusele and Isaïa Cordinier were inserted into the lineup, and suddenly France’s offense looked supercharged. With Victor Wembanyama as its lone big man, the floor suddenly opened up for France to drive the basketball to the rim and clear out for isolations. The defense also looked tougher on the perimeter, and allowed Wembanyama to slide into a more natural role as a rim protector.

Yabusele, a former Celtics draft pick, was the star in the semifinal win over Germany. He was able to attack the German defense off the bounce thanks to France’s spacing:

And he had enough room to work on the post inside:

Gobert is very much still at the top of his game at age-32. He just won his fourth Defensive Player of the Year away this past season by anchoring the Minnesota Timberwolves’ No. 1 ranked defense. He played a key role in helping the Wolves knock out the defending champion Nuggets and advance the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2004.

Two big man lineups tend to work better in FIBA than in the NBA, but it wasn’t working for France. To reach the gold medal game, France had to make the tough decision to bench one of its all-time greatest players. It worked like a charm.

Credit Gobert for keeping a great attitude and cheering on his teammates. France just might need to dust him off for the gold medal game. One thing is for sure, though: France looks a whole lot better with Rudy on the bench.