[Source](https://streamable.com/836xx8)
> I was having a conversation a few days ago with a front office guy from another team unrelated to any of these teams, talking about trades.
>He said to me “I got a question for you that’s been on my mind: How come nobody talks about why Mike Conley isn’t just on the Lakers?…They didn’t need the Timberwolves to be in that trade. That could have been a two-team trade (with Utah).”
by lopea182
27 Comments
~~They also brought in Vanderbilt and Beasley from the Wolves.~~ Russell is also younger, while Conley was perceived by some as washed at the time.
lets just say he’s not klutch enough
that is to say, he’s not a klutch player when it counts. in klutch time
I dont know either, but I’m thrilled he isn’t.
IIRC wasn’t it about money that they didn’t want his $$ on the books? resigning d’lo made no sense
Actually front office guy, I bring it up every time I see the Lakers play, and then I laugh, throwback my head and say “i can’t believe this is my life”
TWolves looked like losers last year. They get a veteran pg and do a complete 180. Gobert would have never adjusted to his new team without a veteran pg to run things
I don’t know but I’m not gonna complain
We are talking about a 36 year old Mike Conley. It is amazing that he is this good at this age, and incredible that he might (might) have it in him to start again next year. But let’s also be real: if anything happens to a 36 or 37 year old Mike Conley, injury or retirement, the timberwolves are kind of fucked. They don’t have the cap or picks to replace him. It would be the same story in LA. So if you’re taking victory laps now, don’t hide in a corner or act like it was unpredictable if something happens to this man (or if he decides his playing days are done at the end of the season despite losing in the playoffs with Minny).
DLo does suck hard though. If he could just hit shots and be slightly below average on D he would be great in LA but he’s not even that.
I will blindly believe that Danny Ainge’s hate of the Lakers and wanting to repay Minnesota for the KG trade led to him arranging it this way
I think the real answer is that the Lakers were trying to get younger and plan for when Lebron eventually leaves. They want guys they can build around 2-4 years from now and thought d’lo fit that more than Conley did. It wasn’t about who was the better player at the time, but who would be the better player in a few years.
I’m pretty sure they talked about a Bojan/Conley plus someone else for Westbrook and a 1st during the offseason but the Lakers declined.
Look at his stats each game and then step back into reality.
24M contract for this year maybe?
Conley played 49 games on average the 2 years prior to last season, was 35 at the time and look washed in the 2022 playoffs.
D’lo sucks but Conley isn’t some game changer and definitely would be shipped out just like D’lo is about to be.
My understanding is that the Jazz tried for months and months to get that ’27 first round pick and the Lakers just kept rebuffing all our scenarios.
Lakers didn’t want Conley and wanted D’Angelo Russell. Minnesota wanted Conley. So Minnesota was the natural third party.
Lakers wanted to create cap space this off-season is why.
Wolves were holding Dlo back
Cos Rob pelinks is the worst gm in the league. That’s why , he was obsessed euth having flexibility to drop contracts then did none of it.saw Dlo Rui n vandi alll have playoff seruu items where they weren’t playable and yet choose to kick it in so makes no sense. Lebron n ADs greatness and Jeanie friendship n stupidity is why we’re stuck with him. I’ve picked dlo over Conley naw n seconds. Other franchises shoukd be thankful the lakers are so poorly run despite the top duo n free agent appeal .
Makes matters worse is we could’ve moved Conley to wolves in summer and done a three way for Jrue or harden or something if they didn’t like Conley . But whatever I’m convinced peoinks doesn’t understand shitbabit bbal. His rister construction is to have two top 8-10 guys n throw together anything n hope it works n Bron n AD carry. He paid n extebded n made guys untradable that other not so great teams dudnt want at all . Just hilarious incompetence gm to not have one too 100 guy on this team
Conley would just fill the exact same role Dlo is doing now, wouldn’t really change much
Easy to look back now but Conley was injury prone as fuk and is up there in age. I’m sure those things played a factor. But more importantly there is no evidence that Conley was actually on the table for the Lakers.
We dont want to talk about it because it hurts too much.
as a wolves fan since 89 and a bigten hoops head before that i watched both those dudes since college and have wanted Conley in our uniform forever.
but never in my dreams did i think it would be working out like this cuz, wolves fan since 89.
The revisionist history on this stuff is funny. At the time the Lakers got rave reviews for getting Dlo while the Wolves were ripped for flipping Dlo for an over the hill veteran.
Turns out the Wolves knew what they were doing all along. Dlo sucked and is maybe the laziest player in the entire league.
conley hits timely shots for us but he would have been asked to play a much larger role in LA
Conley barely played the two years prior, everything is a different story in hindsight
I been fucking thinking this
We’re all too tired from most professional talking heads trying to make every conversation about a team that’s barely sniffing the play-in, probably.