The beloved veteran, who has been crucial to the Timberwolves’ historic season, has now earned the honor twice, in addition to the four sportsmanship awards he has earned over his 17-year NBA career.
The NBA’s Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award is reserved for a teammate committed to altruistic play, vocal and active leadership, and strong devotion to the good of the team.
It should surprise absolutely no one that Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley Jr. has earned this award for the 2023-24 season, the second time he’s won it in his illustrious 17-year career.
Mike Conley has won the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award for the second time, having previously earned the honor in the 2018-19 season.
The award recognizes the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role… https://t.co/5Cs5tf77AW
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 1, 2024
Beginning in the 2012-13 season and initially won by Chauncey Billups, this honor has been bestowed to one player each year of exemplary standing. Since then, only player (Jrue Holiday, of the Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans) has won it multiple times. Additionally, only one other Timberwolf, Jamal Crawford in 2017-18, has earned the honor. Conley joins these rare airs and will choose a charity for the NBA to commit a $25,000 donation towards.
The history of the Twyman-Stokes award begins in 1958, when Maurice Stokes was paralyzed in a game against the Minneapolis Lakers following an awkward fall that brought on a brain injury in Stokes’ motor center. His then teammate Jack Twyman took the extrordinary measure of becoming his advocate and legal guardian until Stokes unfortunately passed away 12 years later in 1970.
While it is certainly not in the same field as the originators, the leadership of Conley, both on and off the court, is not hard to see. The Timberwolves are 72-37 since his arrival on February 8, 2023. That is the third-best record in the NBA in that span, only trailing the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets, with whom they are competing for an NBA title this season.
He has served as an instrumental voice and presence in the locker room, a trusted mentor for fellow starting guard Anthony Edwards on the 22-year-old’s rise to superstardom, a bridge between the rest of the roster and Rudy Gobert, who is playing the best basketball of his career this season, and become an invaluable extension of Head Coach Chris Finch on the floor.
Additionally, Conley has a history of working with charities everywhere he goes. Having donated to COVID relief and sickle cell treatment foundations, as well as to youth empowerment groups like the Boys and Girls Club, Conley also has a history of direct action in communities. Conley, seemingly always shirking praise, ascribes this to his father, the gold-medal-winning Olympian Mike Conley Sr.
Conley is not simply one of the best people in the NBA, he is one of the best people there is. From on-court excellence to activism utilizing his platform, Conley has truly contributed to the enhancement and improvement of the world around him.
While the 36-year-old is certainly well deserving of recognition, don’t be surprised if Conley, like the man he is, instead chooses to credit those around him when he joins TNT’s Inside the NBA at 6 PM CT on Wednesday to discuss his path to becoming a two-time winner of one of the league’s highest honors.