
Conley has served as a key mentor for franchise cornerstone Anthony Edwards while serving as the lead locker room voice for the first-place Timberwolves.
The Minnesota Timberwolves reached agreement with Mike Conley on a two-year, $21 million extension that will keep the beloved veteran in Minnesota through the 2025-26 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Our friend Darren Wolfson of KSTP added that Conley has a full no trade clause, too.
https://t.co/7NVneeEeHn pic.twitter.com/PlncchyYX2
— Canis Hoopus (@canishoopus) February 19, 2024
Conley has been as important as anyone to the team’s 39-16 start, which has the Wolves atop the Western Conference coming out of the All-Star break. The 36-year-old has played in 50 of the team’s 55 games this season, holding averages of 10.5 points on 44.4/44.2/92.3 shooting splits, 6.4 assists to a career-low 1.1 turnovers, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals across 28.9 minutes per game. His 44.2% mark from beyond the arc is also a career-high, and ranks seventh in the NBA among players with at least 200 attempts.
Beyond his on-court impact — which includes helping fully unlock Rudy Gobert’s impact on both ends of the floor, providing excellent spacing as a shooter around the Wolves’ two-bigs, and taking care of the basketball as well as any floor general in the NBA — his off-court impact may be even more important. Conley has served as the lead voice in the Wolves’ locker room en route to a record-setting start to this season, and has been a pivotal mentor for Anthony Edwards, who has previously had a rotating stable of leaders to learn from. Edwards is effusive in his praise of the 17-year veteran, who is helping him learn all the nuances of the game that can turn stars into superstars and superstars into champions.
Hell of a way for Tim Connelly to celebrate Presidents (of Basketball Operations) Day https://t.co/T6nNFyBQ8v
— Jack Borman (@jrborman13) February 19, 2024
Retaining Minnesota Mike not only for two more seasons, but also for a hometown discount of $21 million total is a testament to President of Basketball Tim Connelly and his ability to construct a roster that Conley believes can win a title, as well as how much Conley loves it here. Keep in mind that Conley is making $24,360,000 this season. You could make a real argument that outside of making the deal that brought Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and three second-round picks to Minnesota in exchange for D’Angelo Russell, this is the best move Connelly has made at the helm of the Timberwolves.
Since arriving in that deadline deal about a year ago, Conley has spoken at length about how much he enjoys this group, and the team relying upon him in important games and moments. And if his pregame attire in Portland last week was any indication, Timberwolves Head Coach Chris Finch is likely another reason Conley wants to finish his career a member of the Wolves:
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) February 15, 2024
With Conley now locked in for two more seasons, the Timberwolves are staring down the barrel of the penalties for coming in over second apron of the luxury tax next season and beyond.
Minnesota has nine players under contract for next season, 10 if the Wolves guarantee Josh Minott’s $2,019,699 option. If they do so, the front office will have to fill at least four roster spots by season’s end next spring. If the Wolves made their first-round selection in the 2024 NBA draft and signed three more minimums to hit the 14-player floor, the team will be at least $5 million over the second apron; if that ends up being the case, incoming majority partners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez would be looking at a luxury tax bill north of $55 million in their first season with full control of the franchise.
As a reminder, here are the penalties for being over the second apron:
- Unable to use a taxpayer mid-level exception (likely used on a deal similar to Kyle Anderson’s a couple years ago)
- Unable to sign a player bought out of a contract north of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (~$12.4 million or so this season) — think the Kyle Lowry move for Philly
- Incoming salary matching exception is reduced from 125% to 110%
- Cannot aggregate salaries to land a single player with more incoming money than outgoing money and cannot use cash in trades (Monte Morris deal couldn’t have happened)
- Cannot trade a pick more than six drafts away (makes it tough to swing deadline deals for second-round picks)
- Increased financial per-dollar-over-the-tax penalties for repeater teams
But none of that should take away from how incredibly enjoyable this season has been, how crucial Conley’s performance has been to the team sitting in the driver’s seat in a loaded Western Conference, or how pivotal extending Conley in at a team-friendly figure will be to unlocking the ability for the Wolves being able to keep their starting five (plus Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker) together long-term.
Conley is as important to Edwards’ development and this season’s success as anyone in the entire Timberwolves organization. Minnesota Mike pledging his commitment to this team, this franchise, and this city is something that should be universally celebrated and remembered as a key reason why these Wolves are truly different from teams of old.