On Monday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania broke the news that trade talk surrounding Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley is picking up ahead of this week’s draft. The Utah Jazz are a frontrunner. What would a potential deal look like? What are the obstacles to getting such a deal done? Grizzlies beat writer Omari Sankofa II and Jazz beat writer Tony Jones discuss below.
Sankofa II: You’ve reported Utah’s interest in Mike Conley since the trade deadline. For the Jazz it seems like an obvious fit to get a guy like Conley in their system. From your perspective, what would Conley do for Utah next season on the court?
Jones: I think he makes them a lot better. For context, let’s look at it this way. The Jazz have been a 50-win team with second-round capability for three consecutive years with George Hill and Ricky Rubio at point guard. No disrespect to either one of those guys, both of those guys are good players and good leaders. But Mike Conley is a significantly better player. If you put Mike Conley with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and you put him in that offense, pick-and-roll centric, and you give him that spacing, the Jazz become that much harder to defend and you don’t sacrifice anything defensively. In fact, you gain defensively because Conly has proven to be a very good defender. So to me, it’s a natural fit for the Jazz because Conley is a dynamic playmaker that they really need, and I think it’s something that, if the Jazz were able to get this deal done, I think they would jump a tier in the Western Conference.
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Sankofa II: Absolutely, I agree with that. I tweeted at you the other day saying that it seems like a lot of people don’t realize how good Mike Conley is. Conley told us back in February when he was first in the trade market conversation that he wants to play for a contender. He’s talked to Marc Gasol multiple times about his opportunity with Toronto and I’m sure after seeing what Gasol has accomplished, he’s probably really feeling that itch to contend and move on to the next stage of his career. I certainly agree that a guy like Conley next to Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, it’s pretty clear that Utah could be in the mix to be a top three team in the West next season.
Jones: And I think Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell would be good for each other. For instance, who’s the best off-the-dribble playmaker that Mike Conley has played next to in his career? He had a couple of years with OJ Mayo, and in his prime years it was basically bring the ball up the floor, dump it inside or run pick and roll with Marc Gasol. He has never played with a dynamic presence like Donovan Mitchell, which means that a lot less of the load would be on him as a playmaker and he would do the same for Mitchell. I think the spacing and the ability to compete for something bigger than the situation he’s certainly in, for Mike Conley that’s gotta be enticing.
Sankofa II: Looking at the asking price for Mike Conley at the trade deadline, it seemed pretty clear that the Grizzlies wanted either two first-round picks or a first-round pick and a good young player. Is Utah in a place where they’d be willing to give up a young player or two first-round picks now?
Jones: It’s a little bit more difficult than it was at the trade deadline because at the trade deadline the Jazz had offered dollar-to-dollar expirings to offer Memphis cap relief. That pathway is a little bit harder now, a little bit more difficult. I think the framework of the deal at the end of the day will certainly include a first-round pick this year from the Jazz. It could include an additional first-round pick. I reported on Twitter that currently it doesn’t include Derrick Favors. That can change, I think that’s fluid. In terms of what Memphis wants in terms of good young guys or guys with upside to be an All-Star, the only person that qualifies for it is Donovan Mitchell. And obviously, the Jazz aren’t going to put Donovan Mitchell in this deal. If you’re the Jazz, you offer the assets and the picks, you offer the ability to give cap relief and to jumpstart a rebuild. But there’s a little more pressure on Memphis in the fact that Ja Morant is the second-best player on this board and it’s going to be tough for the Grizzlies to pass up a dynamic guard in the draft like Morant.
Sankofa II: Speaking of Favors, he’ll be expiring and that would be big cap relief for the Grizzlies, clearing roughly $50 million off of the books over two years. Is Favors a guy who can potentially fit next to Jaren Jackson Jr. long-term?
Jones: Absolutely. The thing with Favors is he’s played power forward his entire career, but the moment he moves to another team he instantly becomes one of the better centers in the league. The only reason that center isn’t his primary position now is that Rudy Gobert is on the Jazz roster. Jaren Jackson, he can play either frontcourt spot. He can play the five or he can play the four. He’s a guy that has the ball skills and the jump shot to play at the perimeter. And he’s a dynamic, dynamic two-way presence. In fact, it’s a really good fit with Favors defensively because both of those guys have shown the rare ability, for somebody as big as them, to defend on the perimeter and defend against quick guards on switches. Favors is a natural fit for what Memphis wants to do. He can pick-and-pop, he can pick-and-roll, he can finish above the rim, he can protect the rim defensively and he can defend on the perimeter. That fits next to what Jaren Jackson does and they can both be on the floor at the same time.
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Sankofa II: You touched on this, but the parameters of a Conley-to-Utah deal have changed just based on how Utah can no longer include Ricky Rubio in a potential deal. Looking at the situation with Golden State and the Lakers trading for Anthony Davis, it appears that the league is trying to capitalize on the fact that the race for the championship is wide open next season. Will that make it tougher for Utah to pull off the deal now that there’s potentially more competition?
Jones: Yeah, and that’s the thing. You’ve gone through half-a-decade where the window of the NBA extended to two-or-three teams. And now that window is opening for a lot of teams and a lot of teams want to capitalize. Utah is in a good position. Donovan Mitchell is 23 years old. Rudy Gobert will be 27-years-old next week. Rudy Gobert has already entered his prime. Donovan Mitchell is just now entering his prime. And I think the Jazz know that if they can add a dynamic third presence, they have a chance to be really good. What Conley does for the Jazz is make them much, much better offensively. In a playoff scenario, he can beat people off the dribble and he can score in the half court. You do that without sacrificing any of the elite defense that the Jazz have become known for in the Quin Snyder era. If the Jazz can be one of the top five defensive teams in the league and one of the top 10 offensively, which is not outside of the realm of possibility with Conley, you can do the math. They’re going to win a lot of ball games, they’re going to have a good seed in the playoffs and they’re going to have a chance to make a run.
(Top photo of Mike Conley/Donovan Mitchell: Chris Nicoll / USA Today)