Once known as Greg Oden’s point guard in high school and college, Mike Conley has carved out an excellent NBA career. Now one of four players left from the 2007 draft class, he never imagined he’d still be playing. Entering his 19th season, the All-Star is still chasing a championship.
A longtime Call of Duty fan since his rookie season, Conley partnered with the game ahead of the November 14 launch of Black Ops 7, He spoke with HoopsHype about the new release, his career journey, how much longer he hopes to keep playing, Anthony Edwards, and more.
If someone told you on your draft day that you would be going into Year 19, what would you have said then?
Mike Conley: I wouldn’t have believed them at all, honestly. I thought a 10-year career was a long time, and that was like the max that I’d be able to get to. And once I got to 10, I looked up, I’m like, man, I think I can keep going. And now I’m looking over my shoulder, it’s 19 and counting. So, just an unbelievable run. I’m looking forward to trying to get to 20 and see what happens.
Has your career been fast, like a blink of an eye in a way?
MC: Yeah, it’s gone by super fast. You look back and it’s just like yesterday, I was in Memphis and a young guy trying to find his way. And fast forward now, here in Minnesota, I got a family, got kids. just life is completely different. So it’s an amazing, amazing journey. And just thankful to still be doing it.
How do you feel your role will be with the Wolves? Will it be similar to last year’s?
MC: I think so. I think this team, we’re really, really close to being a contending team that can knock down that door. And for me, I got to be the vet. I got to be the guy to come in with the experience and lead these guys the best I can for whatever minutes I’m on the floor with those guys and give them everything I have defensively, offensively. Knock down shots when I get opportunities, but play through Ant, play through Jaden, play through Naz and Julius, and those guys, and just try to get the most out of our team as we go forward.
What advice have you been given to the younger guys in general?
MC: Honestly, it’s taking advantage of the moment. That is something that I don’t think I really took time to grasp at all, as I was in my early 20s and mid-20s. Life kind of moves really fast for you, and you just look back and regret it. You just really pay attention to the day-to-day journey of trying to be the best player you can be, the best teammate. And on your journey, try to win a championship because it’s not something that a lot of people get the opportunity to do.
I’ve been at this thing for 19 years and haven’t had a sniff at the Finals, so it’s truly just trying to keep everybody’s perspective on the day-to-day and understanding we have an unbelievable opportunity in front of us.
Right when the buzzer sounds and your team gets eliminated, does it hurt more for you personally these past few seasons compared to earlier in your career when you were with Memphis?
MC: Yeah, I think now it’s more real because you look at your career and you can kind of see the end where it’s like, man, I don’t have that much time left and opportunities are going to be slim. The West just keeps getting better and better as the years go on, and so it becomes tougher to get back to where you have opportunities to win.
As a young man, it was like we’ll have a chance next year, we’ll have a chance the year after that. You’re not thinking about the end of anything, you’re just thinking about the opportunities you have ahead of you, so definitely now it just becomes more of that realization that this could have been my last chance, or how many more opportunities do we get to have that bite at the apple.
Do you feel like the West has gotten better or more competitive now than when you were in Memphis?
MC: I think it’s similar. We had some really, really tough years when I was in Memphis. I mean, we had a year where everybody in our division made the playoffs. New Orleans to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. I mean, you just go down the list of teams that were great back then. There’s still those great teams nowadays. But then, it’s hard to find a really poor team. I think most teams are playing really competitive basketball and are headed in the right direction. So it’s going to be really tough for us now more than ever.
Are you having more fun now?
MC: [Laughs] Man. Well, when you’re teammates with Ant and those guys, you got to have a little bit of fun. It’s a lot of fun to be around these guys and not as much is asked of me nowadays as it was back in the day – I had a lot more on my plate – but it’s enjoyable to be around these guys. They breathe life into you, they just keep you young in a sense and keep you motivated, so it’s fun to still be challenged every day and have fun with the kind of guys we have on our team.
What’s the funniest thing Anthony Edwards has done since you’ve been with the Wolves?
MC: Funniest thing? Oh, man. I don’t know. I mean, there’s a lot. I mean, probably a lot I can’t say, but a lot of times. is probably based around video games, honestly, man.
There was one night we were in Abu Dhabi, I think, two years ago, and I got on a game late. like 11, 12 pm and had a little hour-long session, got to bed, went to sleep, woke up, and I was walking in the hallway to get breakfast, and I could hear him yelling and screaming in his room, still playing the game like going crazy about something that happened. I’m like, man, I don’t think he went to sleep last night like he was so amped up about the game and playing and that’s just who he is. He’ll compete at something until he feels good about winning and the result.
Does he sleep?
MC: I honestly don’t think so. I think he was up playing games all night that particular night. Straight to the gym, straight to practice, do his thing. That doesn’t happen often, but he’s got that built-in engine. He can kind of do it all.
You are known as the one guy who hasn’t gotten any techs. Is that something you take pride in, or did it just happen over time?
MC: Yeah, it’s one of those things that just happened, honestly. I’ve always played the way I do. I respect people. I compete. I don’t really got much to say to you. I don’t really let much get under my skin. So it’s not anything about me trying to be somebody I’m not or anything. It’s just who I am. So, I look up and I ain’t got no technicals. I’m just trying to keep it that way now. I got a couple more years left, and hopefully it stays that way.
Was there a particular time when you felt like you should have gotten one or the referee came up to you and was like, ‘I’m not going to give you one just because of who you are?’
MC: [Laughs] More recently, I think I talk a little bit more today than I did back in the day. I’ve reacted a little wild sometimes, and I look over my shoulder thinking I’m about to get one finally, and they’ll just be shaking their head, like, chill out, like calm down. I don’t think anybody really wants to be that person to give me that first tech.
Now that you’ve been on an All-Star team over in Utah… Was that weighing on you at the time or do you feel like your mindset changed once you finally got that one?
MC: It had gotten to a point where I was kind of okay with having not made it. It had been that long. It just wasn’t meant to be that kind of thing, and when I did it was in a year that was an amazing year with Utah. And I didn’t even expect to make it then. I was like, wow, just kind of surprised. But, yeah, it was definitely an achievement. It was something I had been looking forward to have an opportunity to do. And prior years before that, when I really felt like I deserved it, and to finally get that opportunity was really cool.
So, it’s not like that was the end-all, be-all for my career, but it was definitely a moment that I can look back at that, say that I kind of persevered through a lot and stayed resilient and was able to find a way to get in, Year 14.
Was there a memorable moment for you during your time in Memphis? Any particular moment where you know you’ll never going to forget?
MC: Man, there’s so many. Being in Memphis, we kind of came from the bottom. We were a team that worked our way up year by year and kind of did it our way. And, that’s what was so special about that group of guys, coaches, and everybody involved, the whole city. We kind of grew together.
One memory would be hard to stick out, but we had the Western Conference Finals opportunity. That year was amazing. The city was buzzing. Our team was playing at the best level we had played.
I had a year where I had surgery on my eye. I had to wear a mask in a playoff series in Golden State. That memory really sticks out just because of the time period and who we were playing. We were playing the Warriors and competing in the second round, having an opportunity to go further.
All those times were really kind of etched in my mind. And just a wonderful time I had there in Memphis.
You’ve been in the league for much of your life, and you’ve seen how the gambling aspect has really changed the landscape. From being in the league when sports betting was illegal everywhere, to now, where it’s literally part of the NBA brand in a sense. Sponsorships and partnerships are intertwined with the game. Fans are screaming at you guys now about their parlays. What are your thoughts?
MC: It’s part of our game now, whether we like it or not and it’s different than what it was. The game was a little bit more, I don’t know if I’m gonna say like pure but you just had more engagement from fans about just pure basketball and not parlays. You’re getting people getting mad at guys who average 30, who maybe have a night where they get 28, and that’s kind of outrageous.
So it’s a different world. It’s something we all have to adjust to, obviously, and it brings a lot of money in, in much different ways to the league. I’m sure it finds ways to the players eventually through CBA and TV deals and things like that. So it’s helping grow the game, regardless of a few fans here and there giving you a piece of their mind every now and then.
You mentioned earlier you wanted to get to Year 20. Are there days you get up and think about retiring?
MC: There hasn’t been a day that I have felt like I should retire yet. I think that’s the day when I do feel it. That’s the day I’ll be like, all right, it’s time to go. But for the most part, I take care of my body pretty well. I do the things I’m supposed to do diet-wise and be ready to go every night. And, I think it’ll come to a point where, you get kind of overwhelmed with the amount of work you have to do in order to stay at par to keep up with these guys, that it just becomes too much. But so far it’s not there, so hopefully we can squeeze a little bit more juice out of this thing.
What’d you think of Black Ops 7 – the new Call of Duty coming out?
MC: I got to play just a little bit. I was actually in the middle of training camp, so it was a tough time to really get a lot of gaming in, but the movement seems good. I’m excited about that. I got a little glimpse, so I saw the map that’s coming out as far as the resurgence map or the smaller map for Warzone. And I’m excited about just all this in store. The game just keeps evolving every year. You get something new. And I’m a big fan, so I’m excited to see what’s going to happen.
Have you gotten a chance to play any of your teammates with it?
MC: Not Black Ops 7 with the team, but we’re on almost all the time. Just playing in Verdansk or Resurgence. I know a lot of guys play Resurgence because it’s a little bit quicker for them and we get into action a little bit quicker. So, Jaden, Ant, like all those guys are big fans and they play probably more than I do, but I’m still better than them. So it’s a competition either way we cut it.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Mike Conley Q& A: ‘There hasn’t been a day that I have felt like I should retire’
