The Utah Jazz made the decision to clean house this summer, starting with the franchise’s two biggest stars.
Rudy Gobert was shipped off first to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Then this past week, Donovan Mitchell was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Jazz got a fairly significant haul for the two All-Stars: eight new players, seven first round picks and three first round swaps.
The only thing left at this point for Danny Ainge and Co. is to begin dealing away the role players. Already, two teams have emerged as the frontrunners for a trade centering around Bojan Bogdanovic. There are also two squads out there with very real interest in acquiring Jordan Clarkson.
The third piece of that puzzle is point guard Mike Conley. While the 34-year-old is objectively no longer the player he was back in 2018 with the Memphis Grizzlies, he can still be a valuable asset to a championship-contending team.
Conley is owed $22.6 million this season and $24.3 million next season – but only $14.3 million is guaranteed in that latter campaign.
At the moment, it appears as though there are three very legitimate suitors for his services.
The first is the Los Angeles Lakers. L.A. recently acquired Patrick Beverley from the Jazz, but he is a three-and-D guy at this juncture. He cannot lead an offense.
Conley could be the perfect compliment alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He has shot above 40 percent from beyond the arc in each of his last two seasons, which would be ideal for a team that ranked 17th in three-point attempts, 18th in three-pointers made and 22nd in three-point percentage in 2021-22.
The Dallas Mavericks would also make a lot of sense. Clearly unloading Davis Bertans would be a massive win in itself, but Conley could also be a quality stabilizing figure behind Luka Doncic. Dallas is clearly looking to build on last year’s Western Conference Finals run – and you need proven vets for that.
Finally, don’t sleep on the New Orleans Pelicans. Adding C.J. McCollum at last season's trade deadline paid dividends for the organization. Adding another battle-tested guy like Conley alongside the young core of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram could catapult this group into the playoffs.
The Pelicans have been linked to several blockbuster trades in recent weeks, but the reality is they don’t need a big move. A healthy Williamson is like acquiring a superstar in itself. They just need to fix things around the margins.
One way or another, this is shaping up to be an intriguing next few weeks.
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