Mike Conley Fantasy News and Statistics

Perhaps no NBA player in recent memory has been overlooked as much as Mike Conley. He plays in a small market and without the flair of other point guards. But Conley has been one of the steadiest players in the league over the last decade. He’s helped define the Memphis Grizzlies’ Grit and Grind style of basketball while being a two-way player who sacrifices his numbers for the good of the team.

Conley is a basketball player at the game’s highest level, but he still isn’t even the best athlete in his own family. His father, Mike Sr., is an Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump and doubles as the agent for his son. While most NBA players were the stars on their high school teams, Conley played second fiddle to an athletic, but injury-prone, 7-footer by the name of Greg Oden. Together, Conley and Oden led their Indianapolis high school team to three straight state championships from 2004-06.

The pair would then team up again at Ohio State University, and the Buckeyes made it to the 2007 NCAA Championship Game. OSU fell to Florida, but Conley had a standout final game. Both he and Oden declared for the draft a short time later. For the first time in years, the two would be split up as Oden went first overall to Portland and Conley went fourth to Memphis. Perhaps not used to playing without his best friend, Conley struggled early on and split time at the point guard position with Kyle Lowry for his first two NBA seasons.

In 2009 Lowry was traded to Houston, so Conley was given the reins to the Memphis offense. That coincided with the arrival of head coach Lionel Hollins, who emphasized defense from all positions. Conley was always known as an offense-first player, but he bought in and became one of the NBA’s best defenders. Over the next four seasons, he would post the third-most steals in the league and was named to the All-Defensive second-team in 2012-13.

The Grizzlies hovered in the Western Conference’s middle-class during the next few years, which meant they were playoff contenders but not competing for championships. Perhaps that is a reason Conley has never received All-Star recognition from the fans, fellow players or coaches. However, he did receive a different type of recognition that only he can claim. In 2016, he re-signed with the Grizzlies on a $153 million contract that made him the highest-paid player in NBA history.

Conley followed up that deal with his best season to date as he averaged a career-high 20.5 points per game and made history along the way. After being ruled out for six-to-eight weeks with fractured vertebrae, he returned after missing just two-and-a-half weeks and became the Grizzlies’ all-time leader in points. Already the franchise leader in games, assists and steals, Conley passed Pau Gasol to become the franchise’s scoring king.

The 2017-18 season should be an interesting one for Conley. Most players don’t post their career-high in points per game in their tenth season like Conley did, so how he follows up that campaign is something to keep an eye on. With franchise stalwarts like Zach Randolph and Tony Allen no longer on the roster, even more may be asked of Conley. If he can find a way to keep Memphis in the playoff hunt and improve on his already-stellar play, then he could finally get his first taste of All-Star Weekend.