Utah Lands Mike Conley In Trade With Memphis

The Utah Jazz have a new starting point guard and his name is Mike Conley. The Jazz acquired Conley via trade from the Memphis Grizzlies who will receive Grayson Allen, Kyle Korver, Jae Crowder, and the 23rd pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, plus one additional future first round pick. Utah is in go for it mode.

Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news:

The trade will be completed when the new league year begins in July for cap reasons. So, yes, you will get to see that awkward moment when the Jazz are drafting for the Grizzlies and the player they pick wears the wrong hat. Good stuff.

I thought Memphis did well here. Two first round picks is a good place to start. Grayson Allen is a nice young shooter to gamble on. Not much to complain about for a team that needs assets going through a full rebuild trying to trade a player on the back 9.

Additionally, it was rumored that the Jazz would waive Derrick Favors in order to create room for Conley in a trade. Well, that no longer needs to happen. The contracts that Utah is sending out is enough for the Jazz to make the trade work financially while keeping Favors on the roster. Favors has a non-guaranteed deal worth $16 million. Now, the Jazz could still waive Favors if there’s another player on the market they cover but it’s not a thing they NEED to do.

I will say I’m glad the Celtics didn’t get Conley. They were one of the rumored teams in the mix. What does Mike Conley do for Boston? Given his age (31) and contract ($32.5 million in 2019-2020 and $34.5 million in 2020-2021) I did not think he was a player worth giving assets for.

That’s not to say Conley isn’t a good player. He’s just probably not an elite player. Conley has never made the All-Star team during his 12-year career. Now maybe that’s not a fair thing to say for a guy who’s played out west for his entire career but it’s a reality. Conley averaged 21.1 points per game on .438 percent shooting this past season.

For a team like Utah, I think this trade makes a lot more sense. Ricky Rubio is a free agent and he’s not someone you really want starting for a contender anyway. Conley is an upgrade over Rubio. The Jazz now trot out a starting five that looks like Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Favors, and Rudy Gobert. Conley is a nice piece but Utah certainly has more work to do if they want to be taken seriously.

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