Mike Conley Traded to Utah; Who Won the Trade?

By: Nick LaPorte, 6/19/2019

Mike Conley, who headlined the “Grit & Grind” era of Memphis basketball, is headed to Utah. The Jazz have acquired Conley for Grayson Allen, Kyle Korver, and Jae Crowder, as well as the 23rd pick in this draft and a protected future first round pick. This trade comes a few months after Memphis traded star Marc Gasol to the Raptors, which began the break up of “Grit & Grind.”

For the Jazz, this is an absolute win. They are upgrading from the incumbent Ricky Rubio, who is expected to test free agency. Conley’s skillset is similar to Rubio’s, but he’s better at nearly everything. Conley is a superior shooter and defender. While Rubio may be a better pure passer, Conley’s in-game control of the offense is nearly as good. Conley averaged 21.1 points and 6.4 assists per game in 2018-2019, compared to Rubio’s 12.7 and 6.1 respectively. 

It’s unclear how much Conley will handle the ball, with Donovan Mitchell already in tow. Mitchell is a heavy usage isolation player, and will take touches away from Conley. Expect Conley’s usage, which has averaged >25% the last 3 seasons, to go down. Mitchell, on the other hand, carries a 30% usage rate through his first 2 seasons, and I doubt that number comes down at all. If anyone gives up touches, it’s going to be Conley. Still, if Conley’s usage drops to say, 20%, he can be a great offensive fit in Utah. 

The Jazz employ one of the league’s stingiest defenses, led by former defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert. Gobert, the “Stifle Tower,” is a limited offensive player but as talented a rim protector this league has seen since Dwight Howard’s Orlando days. Conley has experience playing with a center of Gobert’s caliber; after all, Marc Gasol was a DPOY himself in Memphis. Utah coach Quin Snyder has made it work with Rubio running the team. Now he has a chance to excel with Conley in charge. 

For Memphis, this trade makes less sense to me. They didn’t acquire a lottery pick, and the future first will likely be a late first-rounder as well. Kyle Korver and Jae Crowder are assets, but Memphis will be hard-pressed to find good value for old 3-and-D players like those 2. The one intriguing piece is Grayson Allen. The former 21st overall pick has some upside. At Duke, he was known as a clutch shot-maker and gritty defensive player. But with Memphis likely picking Murray State point guard Ja Morant with the 2nd pick in Thursday’s draft, I don’t see where Allen fits with Memphis. 

Overall, this trade is skewed highly in Utah’s favor in my eyes. Utah got a great upgrade at point guard, and this may be enough to push them into true contention in the West. For Memphis, they picked up some assets, but lost a great player. Usually, when a team trades away their best player, they are the ones that lose that trade. In this case, I think this is clearly true for Memphis.