Having lost two of their last three games, including a 119-115 defeat against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, Rudy Gobert is frustrated with a lack of effort from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Speaking to reporters after the loss, Gobert called out the effort, accountability and urgency levels with the team:

“Just no effort. We’ve seen that many, many times this year, last few years, since I’ve been here. We always know it’s coming. When it comes there’s no sense of urgency, no accountability. So I think at some point, if the players don’t have accountability, someone has to have accountability for the players.”

Gobert didn’t exclude himself from the criticism either, noting head coach Chris Finch shouldn’t hesitate to bench him if it looks like he’s not giving it his all:

“It starts with me. If I’m not showing effort, bench me. Take me out of the game. Everybody else will follow. Our best players, leaders, if we don’t show any effort, it doesn’t matter if you score 50, we’re not going to win. At some point, if we’re not mature enough to have that accountability ourselves, that might be a solution. And I guarantee you that when we come back onto the court, we’ll show effort.”

Despite their 32-21 record, the Timberwolves have been inconsistent throughout the season. They are also in danger of falling out of the top six with the Phoenix Suns (31-21) hot on their heels.

Their high-water mark came on Jan. 13 when they defeated the Milwaukee Bucks to move a season-high 13 games over .500 and were fourth in the Western Conference.

In 11 games since, they are 5-6 with a losing streak of five games and a winning streak of four games. Their two most recent losses are against the Memphis Grizzlies, who entered that contest on a six-game losing streak, and now the Pelicans.

The 137 points scored by Memphis tied its season high. It was also tied for the second-most points allowed in a game that didn’t go into overtime by the Timberwolves.

One hallmark of the T-Wolves’ success over the past two seasons has been their defense. They led the NBA in defensive rating in 2023-24 and ranked sixth in 2024-25, but they are clinging to the 10th spot so far this season.

Adding to the frustration is this season is the best their offense has been by rating since they made the leap into the top-tier of Western Conference teams.

Many of the same pieces are still in place from the team that reached the conference finals in each of the past two seasons, but the lack of consistency so far will make their quest to get back to that spot and over the final hurdle to reaching the NBA Finals more difficult.

Gobert and the Timberwolves have two months remaining in the regular season to solve these issues.