Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley is about to start his 16th season in the NBA. He’ll be 35 by the time the 2022-23 season begins. He’s at a point in his career when he has to start thinking about what matters the most.
As the offseason started to unfold — first with Quin Snyder stepping down, followed by the Jazz trading Royce O’Neale and Rudy Gobert — Conley thought that the Jazz might be retooling around Donovan Mitchell. That those two trades might have been the beginning and the end of serious upheaval.
But then when the Jazz traded Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Conley was made keenly aware that he could be next.
“It was a roller coaster, a lot of unknown,” Conley said. “You didn’t know who was staying, who was going. When Rudy got traded and Royce and you thought maybe that would be it. And then once Don got traded the flood gates kind of opened up and now all of us are up in the air and didn’t really know what was going on.”
Conley had to start having some pretty heavy conversations with his wife, Mary. They’ve built a life in Utah, their kids are in school here and things wouldn’t be easy to uproot.
In the end, they decided that if Conley was traded, that Mary and their three sons would stay in Utah, at least at first.
“If I was 20-years-old and didn’t have a family and got traded, it wouldn’t matter, I’m going by myself,” Conley said. “But my kids are in school, they have friends and there are neighbors and people that they really do care about and to have them pick up and be moving around wouldn’t be the ideal situation. So whether I go or don’t, they’ll be here throughout the year.”
Once those decisions have been made, then comes the next mental hurdle. Does Conley want to be part of a rebuilding team?
An NBA title has so far eluded Conley and on this current Utah Jazz team a championship is just not on the table. Conley is at the tail end of his NBA career and he’s talked in the past about making the most out of windows of opportunity in this league because they are few and far between.
So would Conley’s preference be to get traded to a team that has a chance at being a contender, even if it means missing valuable time with his family? Is it worth uprooting to try to chase a title this late in his career?
“That’s the battle,” Conley said. “I want to win. I signed here to compete and have a chance to win a championship. But for my own career do I want to sacrifice my family, or them being uprooted? I really do weigh that heavily.”
Conley made it clear that while he is in a Jazz uniform he is going to be completely in on helping the young players grow and being the kind of player and person that the Jazz need him to be. But, as he said, he wants to win, so he’s not closing the door on possibly going elsewhere.
The same can be said for Jordan Clarkson, Rudy Gay and anyone else who could end up on this Jazz roster. These are highly competitive athletes who want to play basketball and they want to win.
Gay was incensed by being benched down the stretch of last season and coming into this season healthy he’s hoping that he can have a fresh start. But again, that start is going to come on a team that is bound for more losses than wins.
“At 17 years I still have something to prove now,” Gay said.
But there’s also uncertainty that some of these players haven’t had to deal with. They don’t know if they’re going to be on this roster past the trade deadline, they don’t know if they’re going to be a part of the rotation or if the Jazz coaching staff is going to prioritize developing younger players over getting the veteran players reps. They don’t know what’s around the corner.
That leaves them in a place where they are not only feeling vulnerable and on shaky ground but also having to evaluate what they want out of their careers.
At least for now, there’s not much to do but trust in the things that have got them to this point and make the most out of whatever situation this ends up being.
“This is very new, but it’s just something that I can say that I’ve been through and something I can help somebody else with in the future,” Gay said. “I don’t know how it’s all gonna turn out but I can control myself and how I come into camp and if I’m ready or not and also I can control what I say to these young guys.”