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Mike Conley Jr. is an American pro basketball player who currently plays point guard for the Utah Jazz. He was born October 11, 1987, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and is the son of Olympic track & field athlete Mike Conley Sr. The younger Conley attended high school in Indianapolis and played one year of college basketball at Ohio State, helping the Buckeyes reach the Final Four in 2007.
The Memphis Grizzlies selected Conley 4th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft. By his second pro season, Conley had become the full-time starting point guard for the Grizzlies. He played 12 seasons with Memphis, helping the Grizzlies reach the playoffs in seven consecutive years from 2011 to 2017, although he missed the 2016 playoffs due to injury. During the summer of 2019, Conley was traded to the Utah Jazz for Grayson Allen, Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, Darius Bazley, and a protected first round pick. At the time of the trade, Conley was the leading scorer in Grizzlies history.
After the 2019-20 NBA season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Conley won the NBA’s Horse Challenge, beating Zach Levine. Conley has long been considered one of the best people in the NBA, winning the league’s Sportsmanship Award three times and NBA Teammate of the Year in 2019.
Mike Conley Jr. attended Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, where he played with Greg Oden. Together, Conley and Oden led Lawrence North to three straight state titles. During his four years as the starting point guard, Lawrence North was 103-7. As a senior, Conley was named a McDonald’s All-American and was runner-up to Oden for Mr. Basketball in Indiana.
Conley attended Ohio State University along with Oden and AAU teammate Daequan Cook. Together, they formed one of the best freshman classes in the country and made the Buckeyes one of the top teams in the country. Conley started all 39 games of the season, averaging 11.3 points and 6.1 assists per game. The Buckeyes finished the season 35-4, winners of the Big Ten regular season and tournament championships but lost to Florida in the national championship game. After the season, Conley declared for the NBA Draft with his father serving as his agent.
The Memphis Grizzlies drafted Conley 4th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft. Early in his career, Conley battled Kyle Lowry for playing time in the Memphis backcourt. After Lowry was traded in February 2009, Conley became the full-time starting point guard for the Grizzlies, a spot he would hold for the rest of his time in Memphis.
Conley and the Grizzlies finally found their breakthrough during the 2010-11 season. He averaged 13.7 points and 6.5 assists per game while helping the Grizzlies snap a four-year playoff drought and win the first playoff series in franchise history. Unfortunately, injuries would soon become a recurring career in Conley’s career. While he helped Memphis reach the playoffs every year from 2011 to 2017, he played 80 games in a season just once during that span and missed the 2016 playoffs entirely.
Early in the 2017-18 season, Conley suffered an Achilles injury that kept him out for the rest of the season after playing just 12 games. He came back strong during the 2018-19 season, scoring a career-high 21.1 points per game and averaging 6.4 assists per game. In March, he passed Marc Gasol as the all-time leading scorer in franchise history. However, the Grizzlies missed the playoffs.
In July 2019, Conley’s time in Memphis ended after he was traded to the Utah Jazz for Grayson Allen, Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, Darius Bazley, and a protected first round pick. Once again, Conley missed time due to injury. At the time the 2019-20 season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, Conley played in 41 of Utah’s 63 games, starting 35 and averaging 13.8 points and 4.3 assists per game. During the NBA’s hiatus, Conley won the NBA’s Horse Challenge.
Ahead of the 2019-20 NBA season, Conley had earned over $141 million in salary during his NBA career. Between the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, his salary made a huge leap from $9.6 million to $26.5 million. He made over $30 million in salary for the first time during the 2018-19 season. He also has an endorsement deal with Nike’s Jordan brand.
Mike Conley Jr. signed a five-year, $153 million deal with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2016.
Conley is one of four children to parents Mike Conley Sr. and Regina Conley. His father was a prominent track & field athlete who won a Silver Medal in the Triple Jump at the 1984 Olympics and a Gold Medal in the Triple Jump at the 1992 Olympics. Conley met his wife Mary Peluso when he was at Ohio State. The couple married in 2014 and welcomed a son named Myles Alex Conley in 2016.
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