The Utah Jazz made the decision to clean the house this summer, starting with the franchise’s two biggest stars.
Rudy Gobert was first transferred to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Then, last week, Donovan Mitchell was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jazz has had a pretty important run for two All-Stars: eight new players, seven first-round picks and three first-round swaps.
The only thing left at the moment for Danny Ainge and Co. is to start dealing with the player’s roles. Ready, two teams have emerged as the frontrunner for a trade centered around Bojan Bogdanovic. There are also two teams with very interested in acquiring Jordan Clarkson.
The third piece of that puzzle is point guard Mike Conley. While objectively, the 34-year-old is no longer the player he returned to in 2018 with the Memphis Grizzlies, he can still be a valuable asset to a championship-winning team.
Conley owes $22.6 million this season and $24.3 million next season — but only $14.3 million is guaranteed in the campaign after that.
For now, it looks like there are three very legitimate suitors for his services.
The first is the Los Angeles Lakers. LA recently acquired Patrick Beverley from Jazz, but he’s a three-and-a-half at this point. He cannot lead an offense.
Conley could be the perfect compliment alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He has shot over 40% from outside the arc in each of his last two seasons, which would be ideal for a team that is 17th in three-point attempts, 18th in three points taken and fifth. 22 on a three-point ratio in 2021-22.
The Dallas Mavericks will also make a lot of sense. Obviously getting rid of Davis Bertans would be a big win, but Conley could also be a quality stabilizing figure behind Luka Doncic. Dallas is clearly looking to build on last year’s Western Conference Finals run – and you need proven vets for that.
Finally, don’t sleep on the New Orleans Pelicans. Adding CJ McCollum to last season’s trading deadline paid dividends for the organization. Adding another battle-tested guy like Conley along with the young core of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram could take this team to the knockouts.
Pelicans have been associated with some blockbuster deals in recent weeks, but the reality is they don’t need a big move. A healthy Williamson is like having a superstar yourself. They just need to fix things around the margins.
One way or another, this will be a fascinating event over the next few weeks.
