Mike Conley trade puts Utah in Finals contention
In trading for Mike Conley, the Utah Jazz announced themselves as a legitimate contender to make the Finals next season and swiped the first domino in what is set up to be an interesting and unpredictable point guard market.
To review: Utah traded Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, Grayson Allen, the No. 23 pick in Thursday's NBA draft (7 p.m. ET on ESPN), and a protected future first-round pick that will mostly likely shift over to Memphis in 2022 -- when it will be top-six protected, per league sources.
Contracts tied to Conley and Rudy Gobert expire after the 2020-21 season, so by (probably) deferring the pick until 2022, Memphis has at least given itself a shot of catching the Jazz in a down year at the same time the NBA might have a "double draft" combining one-and-done college prospects with newly eligible players coming out of high school.
This is good return for Memphis, which is losing a franchise legend and the last remaining on-court link to the beloved Grit-N-Grind era. (Conley should have a statue outside FedExForum in Memphis soon after his retirement.)
The Grizzlies took a slight risk in waiting until now to deal Conley instead of acting at the trade deadline, but it ended up costing them nothing beyond the chance to clear more 2019-20 salary. They might have come out better for it.
They always wanted two first-round picks, and they got them. The Detroit Pistons opted against paying that price, sources say, and even had the Pistons agreed, Memphis might have been stuck with Reggie Jackson. The Pacers would not surrender two first-round picks and Aaron Holiday, sources say.
In Allen, Korver, and Crowder, Memphis gets three useful players. (Depending on how they structure the trade, the Grizzlies could also create a fat trade exception of about $25 million.) Allen, the 21st pick a year ago, logged just 416 minutes as a rookie, but Utah remained optimistic about his potential. The Grizzlies can almost argue they acquired three first-round picks in this deal. Waiting also allowed Memphis to have certainty over where Utah would pick in Thursday's draft.
Korver and especially Crowder are movable for value. (Memphis trading Crowder for two second-round picks makes too much sense for it not to happen -- and maybe soon.) Crowder leaves a gaping hole at power forward in Utah. (The Jazz's best lineups since acquiring Crowder at the 2018 trade deadline have featured him as a small-ball power forward.)
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No matter how the Jazz timed this trade, adding Conley's $32.5 million salary takes them out of the market for max-level free agents, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks. Utah can open $16.9 million in space by waiving Derrick Favors, whose deal for next season is nonguaranteed, but even that does not create maximum space with Conley's mega-salary coming in.
Utah probably coughed up one more asset than it would have liked, though that might have been unavoidable. It's hard to tell if Boston's interest in Conley was ever real, but you can't blame Utah for believing it became real once reports had both Kyrie Irving and Al Horford potentially heading for the exits. Utah also needed to send out enough salary to keep Favors and remain under the cap. Sending Crowder over Dante Exum is a big bet on Exum. The Jazz need Exum to help next season.
Utah using its space on Conley also marks some minor good news for Philadelphia and any other suitor for Tobias Harris. The Jazz had Harris listed among their major free-agency targets, sources say, but they will move down into lower power forward tiers depending on what they do with Favors. Keep him, and they will be limited to using the room midlevel exception of about $4.8 million. Waive him, and they can crack open enough space to sign someone in the Nikola Mirotic/Bobby Portis/Marcus Morris/DeMarre Carroll tier. They could also send out Favors in a sign-and-trade for a free agent around that level.
If all else fails, they could elect to keep Favors in his role as token starting power forward and heavy-minutes backup center behind Gobert.
Utah has never quite given up on the Favors-Gobert starting duo, even if it seems like they give up on it when the going gets tough in the playoffs. Utah has always defended like all hell in its twin towers alignment. Favors has won them playoff games. The questions have all come on offense.
Spacing was tight with Ricky Rubio running point. Utah's offense mostly survived in the regular season -- minus a disastrous start in 2017-18 -- but things got dicier against dialed-in playoff defenses. The Favors-Gobert pairing would have a more honest chance with Conley, Donovan Mitchell, and Joe Ingles surrounding them in what could be a killer starting five. Georges Niang loosened Utah's spacing as a break-in-case-of-emergency rotation guy in the playoffs against Houston, and figures to get a real chance next season.
Utah may discover it needs a better, more versatile power forward option than is on the roster now. If so, the Jazz have the time and tools to rectify that.
If healthy, Conley is a very snug fit regardless. You need multiple plus playmakers to score against elite playoff defenses. Mitchell was a little overtaxed as a No. 1 option. He shot 39 percent across his two playoff runs, and finished with more turnovers than assists in Utah's dispiriting first-round loss to Houston this season.
Mitchell is 22! Expecting expert-level navigation from him in the playoffs this soon was not super-reasonable. He's not LeBron James. All things considered, Mitchell has managed well enough; he certainly looked ready for the moment as a rookie in coaxing Carmelo Anthony onto an island and running Oklahoma City out of the 2018 playoffs.
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To review: Utah traded Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, Grayson Allen, the No. 23 pick in Thursday's NBA draft (7 p.m. ET on ESPN), and a protected future first-round pick that will mostly likely shift over to Memphis in 2022 -- when it will be top-six protected, per league sources.
Contracts tied to Conley and Rudy Gobert expire after the 2020-21 season, so by (probably) deferring the pick until 2022, Memphis has at least given itself a shot of catching the Jazz in a down year at the same time the NBA might have a "double draft" combining one-and-done college prospects with newly eligible players coming out of high school.
This is good return for Memphis, which is losing a franchise legend and the last remaining on-court link to the beloved Grit-N-Grind era. (Conley should have a statue outside FedExForum in Memphis soon after his retirement.)
The Grizzlies took a slight risk in waiting until now to deal Conley instead of acting at the trade deadline, but it ended up costing them nothing beyond the chance to clear more 2019-20 salary. They might have come out better for it.
They always wanted two first-round picks, and they got them. The Detroit Pistons opted against paying that price, sources say, and even had the Pistons agreed, Memphis might have been stuck with Reggie Jackson. The Pacers would not surrender two first-round picks and Aaron Holiday, sources say.
In Allen, Korver, and Crowder, Memphis gets three useful players. (Depending on how they structure the trade, the Grizzlies could also create a fat trade exception of about $25 million.) Allen, the 21st pick a year ago, logged just 416 minutes as a rookie, but Utah remained optimistic about his potential. The Grizzlies can almost argue they acquired three first-round picks in this deal. Waiting also allowed Memphis to have certainty over where Utah would pick in Thursday's draft.
Korver and especially Crowder are movable for value. (Memphis trading Crowder for two second-round picks makes too much sense for it not to happen -- and maybe soon.) Crowder leaves a gaping hole at power forward in Utah. (The Jazz's best lineups since acquiring Crowder at the 2018 trade deadline have featured him as a small-ball power forward.)
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NBA draft guide: Top prospects, team needs, sleepers and film
No matter how the Jazz timed this trade, adding Conley's $32.5 million salary takes them out of the market for max-level free agents, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks. Utah can open $16.9 million in space by waiving Derrick Favors, whose deal for next season is nonguaranteed, but even that does not create maximum space with Conley's mega-salary coming in.
Utah probably coughed up one more asset than it would have liked, though that might have been unavoidable. It's hard to tell if Boston's interest in Conley was ever real, but you can't blame Utah for believing it became real once reports had both Kyrie Irving and Al Horford potentially heading for the exits. Utah also needed to send out enough salary to keep Favors and remain under the cap. Sending Crowder over Dante Exum is a big bet on Exum. The Jazz need Exum to help next season.
Utah using its space on Conley also marks some minor good news for Philadelphia and any other suitor for Tobias Harris. The Jazz had Harris listed among their major free-agency targets, sources say, but they will move down into lower power forward tiers depending on what they do with Favors. Keep him, and they will be limited to using the room midlevel exception of about $4.8 million. Waive him, and they can crack open enough space to sign someone in the Nikola Mirotic/Bobby Portis/Marcus Morris/DeMarre Carroll tier. They could also send out Favors in a sign-and-trade for a free agent around that level.
If all else fails, they could elect to keep Favors in his role as token starting power forward and heavy-minutes backup center behind Gobert.
Utah has never quite given up on the Favors-Gobert starting duo, even if it seems like they give up on it when the going gets tough in the playoffs. Utah has always defended like all hell in its twin towers alignment. Favors has won them playoff games. The questions have all come on offense.
Spacing was tight with Ricky Rubio running point. Utah's offense mostly survived in the regular season -- minus a disastrous start in 2017-18 -- but things got dicier against dialed-in playoff defenses. The Favors-Gobert pairing would have a more honest chance with Conley, Donovan Mitchell, and Joe Ingles surrounding them in what could be a killer starting five. Georges Niang loosened Utah's spacing as a break-in-case-of-emergency rotation guy in the playoffs against Houston, and figures to get a real chance next season.
Utah may discover it needs a better, more versatile power forward option than is on the roster now. If so, the Jazz have the time and tools to rectify that.
If healthy, Conley is a very snug fit regardless. You need multiple plus playmakers to score against elite playoff defenses. Mitchell was a little overtaxed as a No. 1 option. He shot 39 percent across his two playoff runs, and finished with more turnovers than assists in Utah's dispiriting first-round loss to Houston this season.
Mitchell is 22! Expecting expert-level navigation from him in the playoffs this soon was not super-reasonable. He's not LeBron James. All things considered, Mitchell has managed well enough; he certainly looked ready for the moment as a rookie in coaxing Carmelo Anthony onto an island and running Oklahoma City out of the 2018 playoffs.
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Mike Conley trade puts Utah in Finals contention
![Mike Conley trade puts Utah in Finals contention]()
Reviewed by Hitesh Jariwala
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