NBA Trade Rumors: Jazz's Mike Conley on the Block amid Donovan Mitchell Buzz
July 20, 2022
Donovan Mitchell isn't the only Utah Jazz guard potentially on the move this summer.
Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune told Marc Stein that the Jazz has explored moving veteran guard Mike Conley.
"I know that the Jazz has talked to teams about Mike Conley," Jones said in a Spotify Live conversation. "I don’t know how much of a market there is remaining for Mike Conley."
Conley, 34, has two years remaining on his contract. He will make $22.7 million in 2022-23 and has $14.3 million of his $24.4 million salary for 2023-24 guaranteed.
A year removed from making his first career All-Star team, Conley was a noticeably diminished player last season. While he remained an efficient shooter from deep and was solid at guiding the offense without creating many turnovers, Conley's once-excellent defense took a major step back. Both Conley and Mitchell were consistently attacked by Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson as the Dallas Mavericks upset Utah in the first round of the playoffs.
The postseason was also a struggle for Conley as a shooter, as the veteran knocked down just 33.3 percent of his shots and 20 percent of his threes during the six-game series.
"The season just ended and you have to decompress and look back at everything, but you can't make excuses," Conley told reporters in May. "Would I have liked to perform better in the playoffs? Of course. I think that I was proud of the way we did handle ourselves throughout the year."
The Jazz are in the midst of a roster overhaul, having already traded Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves. They have also been exploring the market for Mitchell, though they have publicly maintained the All-Star guard is part of their future.
Conley is an interesting piece because he fits with their win-now mentality when he was traded to Utah in 2019 but is very much out of step with the team's youth movement. There is likely no shortage of teams willing to have Conley the player on their roster; it's his salary that will make things difficult for Utah in terms of a trade.