The Memphis Grizzlies were shopping Mike Conley prior to the NBA Trade Deadline and the Utah Jazz was one of the teams interested. It’s rumored that they will be interested in trying to trade for him this summer.
The Utah Jazz was one of the favorites to acquire Mike Conley at the NBA Trade Deadline but for whatever reason, they weren’t able to do so. The Memphis Grizzlies felt it was in their best interest to wait and revisit a potential deal in the summer.
Jazz, Grizzlies Could Resume Mike Conley Trade Talks In June https://t.co/PhIpQWCBAT
— RealGM (@RealGM) March 18, 2019
Ricky Rubio will be a free agent so the Jazz will need to either re-sign him or find a replacement. Trading for Conley wouldn’t be difficult financially. Utah currently has $92.2 million in salaries next season which means they wouldn’t need to match the salaries as they would’ve had to do during the season.
Some will say bringing on Conley’s 2 years, $67 million remaining money isn’t worth it but you have to think about the roster as a whole. By the time Rudy Gobert, Joe Ingles, and Donovan Mitchell need extensions, Conley’s deal will be ending so it isn’t going to keep them from offering either of those guys a large deal.
One thing to mention is that the market for Conley might be larger this summer than it was during the season. We have seen the rumors all season long discussing all the team’s loading up on max salary roster spots to offer to the marquee free agents but there are going to be team’s left without one. There are just too many spots for each team to get these top guys and Mike Conley is an ideal plan B for many of these team’s.
He has been playing extremely well since the Trade Deadline as well and he has shown he is still one of the best players in the league to never be selected to the NBA All-Star Team. His play even earned him his first Player of the Week award in his NBA career.
In his 13 games since the trade deadline, he is averaging 22 points and 6.8 assists per game. His numbers have increased largely due to him being in complete control of the offense. With Marc Gasol being traded and Jaren Jackson Jr. suffering his injury the door was open for Conley to put up big numbers and he has done just that.
He has had a few big performances that other teams, and certainly the Jazz have noticed which will lead to many teams being interested in him this summer. We witnessed him set his career-high in scoring with his 40 points in a win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
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He was extremely efficient in this game as he shot 12-18 from the field, including 6-7 from three-point range. In that game, he took over during the 4th quarter in that game as he scored 19 points during that period. He has been fantastic in many fourth quarters recently, being one of the most clutch players in the whole NBA in recent weeks.
On the season as a whole Conley is averaging 6.1 points in fourth quarters which is the 15th highest mark in the NBA. That shows how dominant he has been all season long, but recently he has taken it to another level.
Since the trade deadline, Conley is averaging 7.4 points in fourth quarters which is the 10th best mark in the league. Some will question how much this number means since he is playing for a struggling Grizzlies team but they have been playing better and winning games because of this.
In the 13 games Conley has played since the Trade Deadline the Grizzlies are 6-7. That isn’t a great record but since their 12-5 start to the season they went 10-28 so their recent play has been a big improvement.
Mike Conley won’t ever be the best player on a playoff team but if he can come to Utah and be the third best player and the second option in the offense he certainly will be very tough to defend. A trio of Mitchell, Conley, and Gobert could arguably form the best trio in the western conference, outside of the Golden State Warriors.
This deal is far from certain but considering the fact they pursued Conley at the trade deadline and that they already have shown interest in pursuing him again this summer, it makes you believe they want to get this deal done. If they are as interested as it seems, they may even be willing to offer a better package than they did previously and with other teams potentially pursuing Conley, the Jazz might be forced to offer a better deal.