Mike Conley Reaches Level of Futility Wolves Haven't Seen in a Decade

Mike Conley has reached the end of the line. And that means Chris Finch and the Timberwolves need to accept reality and remove the beloved veteran from their rotation.

Last Saturday in San Antonio, Conley played 21 minutes and didn't score a point, missing all four shots he took. In Tuesday night's loss to the lowly Jazz, which instantly became one of the Wolves' three worst losses this season, Conley played another 15 minutes and didn't score. Over his last two outings, he's been on the court for 36:45 and has gone 0 for 7 (0 for 4 from deep) with 3 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 fouls.

That's two straight games with at least 15 minutes played and zero points scored. Before Conley, the last Timberwolves player to do that was Tayshaun Prince in December 2015. Like Conley, Prince was a former standout whose career was clearly on its last legs. Before Prince, the feat had been achieved by a long list of less-than-stellar Wolves players that includes Robbie Hummel, Darko Milicic, Brian Cardinal, and Mark Madsen.

And these last two games are far from the only evidence that suggests Conley has run out of gas at age 38. For the season, he's averaging 4.8 points per game while shooting 34.2 percent from the field. Out of 335 players who have taken at least 100 shots this season, that FG percentage ranks 330th. (Not-so-fun fact: Rob Dillingham is 331st). And Conley actually got off to a relatively decent start to the season. Since November 19, he's shooting 29 percent overall and 27 percent from three.

It's a difficult situation because Conley is such a great teammate whose play meant so much to the Wolves in his first couple seasons after arriving in a February 2023 trade. Finch clearly loves him and the level of maturity, intelligence, and playmaking he brings to the table when he's playing well. But Finch also needs to realize when those things are outweighed by the negative of Conley's inability to score, not to mention his lack of size on defense. The decline began last season and has accelerated to another level in this season, his 19th (and likely last).

It makes very little sense that Bones Hyland, who scored 23 points against the Bucks last week, is playing less than Conley right now. Hyland played 13 minutes against the Spurs and hit all three of his shots, scoring 7 points. On Tuesday, he played just four minutes. He didn't attempt a shot in those minutes, but he did have two assists and a block.

The time is overdue for Finch to take Conley out of the rotation and move him into a Joe Ingles role. Ideally the Wolves will acquire a guard before the trade deadline, but for now, Hyland is the one point guard who should be playing major minutes off their bench. Finch has to be able to move past his respect for Conley and recognize what's happening. And if he can't, Tim Connelly might have to step in and force the issue by removing Conley from the roster, as sad as that would be.

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