The Minnesota Timberwolves Have a Mike Conley Problem

The Minnesota Timberwolves have a problem, and it’s one the fans continue to clamor about.

After a five-game losing streak in the middle of January, a familiar pattern has emerged. The Wolves are starting games flat, playing without urgency, and compounding that lack of energy with lapses in focus. The result has been defensive miscues and an offense that too often grinds to a halt. For a franchise trying to break through the Western Conference finals ceiling, which it has hit in each of the past two seasons, those habits are troubling.

There are other concerns as well. After a hot start, Jaden McDaniels has cooled off offensively. The preseason optimism surrounding Terrence Shannon Jr. and Rob Dillingham has yet to materialize and seems unlikely to. This is not a roster firing on all cylinders.

Still, while it would be unfair to pin Minnesota’s struggles on one player alone, there’s no denying the Timberwolves have a Mike Conley problem.

Mike Conley’s Shooting Numbers Are Abysmal

Mike Conley, at 38 years old, is one of the five oldest players in the NBA. Outside of LeBron James, history offers very few examples of players at that age contributing meaningfully to winning basketball.

This season, Conley is averaging 4.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 18.6 minutes per game. While his reduced role makes raw per-game comparisons imperfect, the efficiency drop is impossible to ignore. He’s shooting just 32.9% from the field and 32.8% from three-point range — down sharply from last season’s 40% overall and 41% from deep. Over his last 10 games, those numbers have cratered further, to 23.7% from the floor and 26.7% from three.

Even across his last 20 games, Conley is shooting an abysmal 26% from the field and 24.2% from three, yet Chris Finch is still finding opportunities to start him.