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DENVER — Mike Conley doesn’t look old.
As the point guard sits down at Ball Arena, where his Minnesota Timberwolves seized control of the Western Conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets in the first two games that followed, there are no visible signs of the aging process making his job much harder these days. He’s 36 now, a lifetime removed from those days alongside Greg Oden at Ohio State or the Memphis Grizzlies years that followed after Conley was the fourth overall pick in the 2007 draft, but he looks young enough that he might still get carded by an overzealous grocery clerk if he’s buying a six-pack.
Conley’s hairline is mostly intact, with no grays in sight. He still moves like a much younger man, too, as evidenced by Minnesota outscoring the Nuggets by a combined 40 points in his time on the floor in this series (tied for the team-high plus-minus mark with Jaden McDaniels).
Not too shabby for a guy who is the oldest incumbent starter left in these NBA playoffs.
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Boston’s Al Horford is older, but he’s only a starter now because of Kristaps Porziņģis’ calf injury. And only five players of the 60 players from that 2007 draft were employed by NBA teams this season (Conley, Horford, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Thaddeus Young).
In this postseason where all-time great elder statesmen such as LeBron James, Durant and Stephen Curry were sent home in the first round (or earlier), and where young stars such as the Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards are dominating their way to the top of the league’s power rankings, you’d be hard pressed to find a veteran in a more fulfilling position at this late stage than Conley. Not only does he get to play the brand of basketball that suits him best while figuring out what his post-retirement life might look like along the way, but he is playing a pivotal part in the project that matters most to Minnesota’s future: Edwards’ development.
As Conley discussed with The Athletic, he’s loving everything that comes with filling this seat. Since getting traded from Utah to Minnesota in a three-team deal in February 2023, when Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly sent D’Angelo Russell to the Los Angeles Lakers and reunited Conley with his old Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert, Conley has brought the kind of productivity and professionalism that has come to define his career.
Conley started all 76 games he played this regular season, averaging 11.4 points (44.2 percent from 3-point range on 5.3 attempts per game), 5.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 28.9 minutes. Beyond the box score, his ability to be a connector of sorts between Gobert and his teammates and a trusted mentor for Edwards has made a profound impact on the Timberwolves’ culture.
Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley teamed up in Utah before doing so in Minnesota. (Brad Penner / USA Today)
In other words, there are very good reasons Conley recently won the league’s Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award for a second time. Conley signed a two-year, $22 million extension in February, meaning “Minnesota Mike” is signed through the 2025-26 season.
(The following interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.)
Is it strange to see so many of the old guys getting bounced early in these playoffs, and to be part of a team where one of the young stars is doing the bouncing?
The Timberwolves’ four-game sweep of the Phoenix Suns in the first round, in which Conley averaged 11.8 points (36.4 percent from 3-point range), 6.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds and a steal per game, sent Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal into an early offseason.
If you play long enough, like a lot of these guys have, you’re used to seeing them on the TV (and) in deep playoff runs and doing their thing year after year after year. We’re so used to that. But you’re also getting this younger group of people who have been quietly building up their résumé, quietly building up their opportunities to knock on that door and kick it down. I think we’re in that gray area right now, where you’re having a couple of those guys peeking through. Whether that’s Ant, whether that’s (Oklahoma City Thunder guard) Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander), or guys like that across the league, you’re seeing that throughout. And representing for the old guys, we’re trying to hold them off as much as we can. But they’re unbelievably talented and very, very, eager to achieve what they want to achieve.
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My first-ever road NBA game (as a reporter) was when (former Sacramento King) Chris Webber’s 3 rimmed out at the end of Game 7 in that second round against Minnesota (in 2004) and the Wolves won their last playoff series. Fast forward to this past season, and it’s been wild to have so much of my coverage dealing with veteran players who are battling Father Time. Whether it’s Klay (Thompson) with the Warriors or Russell (Westbrook) with the Clippers, you see all these great players who find themselves in frustrating situations. Considering this spot you’re in, and how different it is from the norm for older guys, do you end up having a greater sense of appreciation for where you’re at now?
Oh, yeah. I think about that when I get out on the court every day, bro, I promise you. When I pray before the games, it’s just all gratitude. It’s just like, ‘Bro, I’m out here in front of all these people again, like I get to do this again?’ It’s not a given. I’m 36. Like you said, there aren’t too many of us that are still playing and trying to do it at a high level. And I take pride in that. I know all the guys. You know, I see Thaddeus Young, guys who were in my draft class, Jeff Green, you see all the guys, and you give them a head nod. ‘Keep going, bro. Don’t let them stop you.’ … It’s a sense of pride.
But you have really found a way to not only keep doing your thing, but to do it in a complementary role where you’ve got this blend of being a veteran voice while having real basketball impact. How much have you enjoyed the space you’ve been able to carve out?
Oh man, it’s been lovely. It’s been a match made in heaven because I get to be who I truthfully am as a point guard. There were days (in the past) when I had to go score 21 (points) a night and go be that guy who has to shoot all the balls and shoot 20 times. But innately, that’s not my mindset. I could go my whole career and I can play forever and average 12, 14, 15 (points per game) or whatever it is, just dump assists off, play defense, knock down shots. And because that’s been my game my whole entire life, I’m really, really good at it at this stage in my career. So I don’t have to change anything. I’ve been really lucky with that and have always stayed true to who I am as a player, and this is no different. I get to be who I am and lead these guys, and now we’re in a big moment and I get to be around for it.
I’m sure I know the answer to this question, because we talked earlier in the season about this, but do you feel like you’ve legitimately made Ant (Edwards) a better young pro?
The humble side of me would say, ‘Nah, man, it’s all him.’
What’s the other side say?
(Laughs) I’ll speak for what other people may say. They’ll say yes. They’ll say yes, I think, because of the influence of me being around him. Like, we literally sit next to each other in the film sessions. We sit next to each other on the plane.
And, as we’ve seen in this series, in postgame news conferences…
Was there a point where you had to tell him, like, ‘You’re just not doing enough homework?’
Yeah, that’s basically it, yeah.
When was that?
It was honestly probably the first few weeks we were around each other, like February or March of last year. When I noticed how good he was, I was like, ‘Man, he’s awesome, but there’s this and this where I think he could be better.’ So from there, I was getting with him, getting with C-Hines (Chris Hines), his development coach, telling them, ‘Man, when I’m not there, y’all need to be working on this, y’all need to drill passing out of double-teams or reading the pick-and-rolls.’ As much as I would love to handle the ball as the point guard, realistically, the ball is going to be in Ant’s hands. So if he’s gonna have the ball, he’s got to be able to make the same reads. I can space the floor. I can shoot for him. So can everybody else. And if he can (learn those reads), he can take his game to another level.
How good do you think you can be? I know that’s a cliché question, but this guy gets compared to Michael (Jordan) all the time, which should be sacrilege. But people don’t call it sacrilege, which is saying something.
That is saying something. Yeah, I think you don’t compare him to Michael as far as the GOAT and that discussion. You compare his mannerisms and his traits, his look, his demeanor, his mentality in certain ways. That’s where we kind of build that comparison. But Anthony is his own soul, man. And to answer your question, he can be as good as he wants to be. That could mean face of the league, best player in the league or superstar and just be really, really talented, a really good player. He’s just going to be what he wants.
Mike Conley has been a mentor to Anthony Edwards, but the 36-year-old can still produce on the court. (Brad Rempel / USA Today)
What’s your contract situation?
I signed a two-year extension. So after this year, I have next year and the following year is a partial guarantee.
Independent of the contract status, you are at that age where guys have some vision of how long they will do it. What’s the current outlook on that front?
Before I signed the extension, it was like, ‘Man, it could be this year, it could be next year, it could be any year.’ But then as I played this year out, I was like, ‘Man, I haven’t slowed down yet, and I just can’t imagine myself leaving when I haven’t hit that bottom yet.’ So I’m just gonna burn these tires off and not put a date on it and see what happens.
Give me your most old-guy moment. What things do you either have to do these days to get your body right, or that you just have to deal with that you didn’t used to have to deal with? What makes you feel old?
Oh, man. I think right now … every shootaround we have before games. If we have a 9 a.m. shootaround the day of the game, everybody comes in, and they just start sprinting and running and jumping and dunking. I sit there and look at them, and I look at Coach (Chris Finch), and I’m like, ‘Yo, I can’t. I don’t have that today.’ I literally just do not have that. He’ll be like, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just sit out this drill.’ So they’ve worked with me on that, but those have been my old-man moments, just certain days, certain mornings, you literally feel like there’s no way you’re gonna be able to play that night. And by 5, 6 p.m., you’re right back at it.
I know you’re not there yet, but what does the post-playing career look like for you?
Honestly, I do believe it’ll be around this game. I don’t know what capacity that is yet. I don’t know how well coaching (will fit)…
Front office, where I’ll be texting you about trades?
(Laughs) Yeah, we’ll be talking about trades and the bad decisions I made or whatever. So the front office is there. You’ve got the media side of things, sports broadcasting. All that around this game. I just feel like there’s still so much more I can offer, even outside of being on the court.
Required Reading
(Top photo of Mike Conley: Garrett Ellwood / NBAE via Getty Images)
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