Memphis Grizzlies: 5 Potential Landing Spots For Mike Conley
By Chris Kern
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers were one of the teams to show interest in acquiring Conley prior to the NBA Trade Deadline, but that went away after the devastating injury to Victor Oladipo. They still considered it, but they just felt it wasn’t worth messing up the chemistry they had.
They have a lot of pending free agents this summer as guys like Darren Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Wesley Matthews all will be free agents. There are also multiple others who will be so this roster could undergo big changes.
Oladipo is an all-star and if they could form a de-facto big three with those two and Myles Turner. Paying Conley’s $67 million over the next two season is worrisome, but if they aren’t going to be players in free agency this is how they can get another star.
One of the problems with them having so many guys leaving in free agency is that they don’t have a lot of guys they can offer in a potential trade. Aaron Holiday is a young point guard who is their top asset and would likely need to be included to make this deal.
That was something they were unwilling to do during the season so it seems unlikely they would be willing to include him this summer either. He averaged just 5.9 points in 12.9 minutes per game, but he was primarily the third point guard option so he didn’t have a chance to shine.
If they feel he can develop into their point guard of the future then they shouldn’t feel the need to make a deal for Conley. It could help them contend in the east quicker, but they have a good young core and they have the pieces to contend for years to come.
With how well they played this season when Oladipo in the lineup it wouldn’t be a surprise at all if they tried to re-sign the majority of their team to keep building on what they had going, but if they want to make a splash this summer, Mike Conley should be near the top of the list.