Utah Jazz alumni Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert were involved in a little tussle during the Minnesota Timberwolves game against the Indiana Pacers. After Andrew Nembhard threw his elbow at Conley's face, Gobert quickly returned the favor.
Andrew Nembhard puts an elbow into Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert did not like it and put a shoulder into Nembhard who then threw the ball at Rudy pic.twitter.com/bemBmbRVSc
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) March 18, 2025
Nembhard and Gobert were soon ejected from the game. It was Nembhard's second technical foul, while Gobert was given a flagrant two. The Timberwolves, who entered having won nine in a row, saw their streak snapped by the Pacers. It's fair to question whether that would have been the case if Gobert had stayed in the game.
Even so, Gobert showed how good a teammate he is by defending Conley after Nembhard dealt what looked like a cheap shot. It is sweet that the Jazz alumni still get along as well as they do since they've been teammates for quite some time and have experienced some ups and downs with both Minnesota and Utah. It's a reminder of the good times Utah had with them, even if said good times were inconsistent.
Fun fact: Since 2019, Gobert and Conley have been teammates for all but one half of a season from 2022 to 2023, as Conley was traded to the Timberwolves half a year after Gobert was. It feels like they first joined forces forever ago, yet it somehow simultaneously feels like yesterday because they're still teammates almost six years later.
It is heartwarming that all these years later, they're still showing camaraderie with each other while still helping a playoff team like they did in Utah. Both left the Jazz on good terms, which is why it warms the heart in a way to see Gobert stick up for Conley, even if they're not in Utah anymore.
With all that said, it is hard to look at the Timberwolves' roster makeup and not think about who the Jazz used to be.
The Timberwolves have quite a few Jazz alumni
While Conley and Gobert are the most well-known Jazz alumni playing for the Timberwolves, Minnesota has other ones, too, besides them, to the point where they're almost like a reincarnation of those Jazz teams from 2019 to 2022.
Ingles, another esteemed Jazz alum, plays for the team. At 37 years old, Ingles is a far cry from the glue guy he was in Utah. One of the Timberwolves' more pleasant surprises, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, played for the Jazz once. In all fairness, not many remember his tenure there. However, he's admitted how much Utah impacted his NBA career in the year he spent there.