The Warriors-Timberwolves series features a number of juicy storylines being dug up from the past.

Remember when Steve Kerr and Co. challenged Anthony Edwards to work harder during a pre-draft workout? Betcha didn’t know Jimmy Butler demanded a trade out of Minnesota, and proceeded to make a mockery out of the organization (which did that just fine on its own back then, thank you very much) for the following two months until his wish was finally granted.

But much of that is all in the past.

Edwards has since spent multiple offseasons being coached by Kerr on Team USA.

While fans will never forgive nor forget Butler, the current players couldn’t care less about his past.

Yet what still lingers to this day is the beef between Rudy Gobert and Draymond Green.

Rivals in Defensive Player of the Year discussions for nearly a decade, Green has often belittled Gobert and his impact on the court.

As an analyst for TNT during the 2024 Western Conference finals, the Warriors’ forward suggested at one point that Minnesota should reduce Gobert’s minutes in favor of Kyle Anderson.

And when Wolves fans chanted “Draymond sucks” he turned around and responded, “Rudy sucks, not me! What did I do? I didn’t do anything!”

The two have taken jabs at one another on social media. They’ve also had physical altercations, with Green putting the Frenchman in a headlock mere minutes into a regular season contest in 2023.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Draymond Green Show, the forward said he has “grown so much as a human being since that moment.”

Still, Green is prone to antics. He’s loose with the swinging of his extremities. He’ll push the limits of legality. Gobert can do the same. Both are more likely to do so in the pressure cooker that is the playoffs.

“Everybody knows that is just an ultra-competitor, and we have them, too,” said Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo, who was a teammate of Green’s at one point with the Warriors. “It’s nothing that we’re saying he’s going to do coming into the game. We want him to compete. We’re going to compete. We want to get after it. There’s not intervening. There’s nothing. These guys know exactly what’s at stake and what we’re getting into, and everybody’s ready.”

But there is a fine line to walk between competing physically and doing something reckless that can hurt your team in the short- and/or long-term haul of a series.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said his advice to Gobert is that the center has to “play basketball.”

“I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of physicality, some of it, certainly on the edge of legality. Certainly there’s going to be a lot of things said on the floor or outside the game itself,” Finch said. “We got folks who play basketball, that’s what we got to do.”

In the lead up to the series, that’s where Gobert’s head seemed to be. He’s armed with confidence stemming from his 27-point, 24-rebound outing in Minnesota’s series-clinching Game 5 win over the Los Angeles Lakers last week. On Tuesday morning, Gobert noted “it’s a team matchup.”

“I’m really focused on trying to help my team win. Try to be the best Rudy I can be and play basketball,” Gobert said. “Obviously, it’s Draymond. He’s also an all time great defender. He’s gonna be really physical. He’s gonna be himself, right? For me, it’s really about being myself and also being physical and doing all the things I need to do to help my team win.”

Gobert said he enjoys the challenge of going up against a competitor such as Green. The two figure to lock horns at various points throughout the best-of-seven series. That’s playoff basketball at its finest.

“He’s a fierce competitor, and so am I,” Gobert said. “I think for us it’s really about focusing on us. Outside noise, trash talking, all these things — it’s part of the game. But there’s a lot of things that can distract us from being as good as we can be and as connected as we can be to one another. Just focusing on each other, focusing on the game and don’t let anything distract us from the bigger picture and our ultimate goal, a championship.”