Barkley: Gobert should have been suspended

"The one thing we could never do in sports ever is make people think that the game is fixed," Barkley said during Inside the NBA on Thursday night. "If we ever get to the point in any sport where they found out, it will ruin a sport if people thought it was fixed."

Barkley's opinion comes after Gobert was fined $100,000 for making a money gesture to referee Scott Foster after he fouled Cavaliers forward Jaret Allen on Mar. 8. While Gobert was assessed a technical foul on the court, he doubled down after the game by saying that gambling had become a problem in the game.

"I'll bite the bullet again," Gobert said. "I'll be the bad guy. I'll take the fine, but I think it's hurting our game. I know the betting and all that is becoming bigger and bigger but it shouldn't feel that way."

NBA executive president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said Gobert's previous comments over officiating were taken into consideration for the larger fine but Barkley believes Gobert's comments did enough to warrant a suspension.

"You want to talk about somebody rigging the game?" Barkley asked. "You just slammed a guy almost down. But it bothered me, man."

Fellow analyst Kenny Smith didn't believe a suspension was necessary for the incident but also felt the fine was warranted.

"Rudy Gobert is a good player but I don't think he understands the ramifications of what that could be," Smith said. "The ramifications are deeper because this is a different era [with] social media."

Gobert isn't the first player to insinuate a gambling-driven problem with officiating. Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic was fined $35,000 for making a money gesture toward a referee in March 2023 but didn't have the history or postgame comments that Gobert did.

With sports betting now legal in 38 states, the issue doesn't appear to be going away and could lead to more incidents – and stricter punishment – in the future.