BIOGRAPHY
Michael Alex Conley Jr. was born on October 11, 1987, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He is a point guard in the NBA.
Conley has been a member of the Grizzlies since the team drafted him with the fourth overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft. Conley is the son of Mike Conley Sr., an Olympic gold and silver medalist in the triple jump.
Conley attended Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, where he helped lead the team to three straight state championships and an overall record of 103–7 in his four years as the starting point guard. His senior year, he dished out a total of 123 assists. Conley finished second in the voting of the Indiana Mr. Basketball award to his teammate Greg Oden, who was the national player of the year. He was selected to the McDonald's All American team. Conley was also named a third-team Parade All-American. Considered a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Conley was listed as the No. 3 point guard and the No. 18 player in the nation in 2006.
He committed to Ohio State University as a part of the number two recruiting class in the country that year along with fellow AAU teammates Daequan Cook, Greg Oden, and Mark Titus. His freshman year, Conley averaged 11.3 points and was the leader in the Big Ten Conference in assists with 6.1 per game. Conley and fellow freshman star Greg Oden led the Ohio State Buckeyes to a Big Ten conference championship and a runner-up finish in the NCAA tournament. Conley ended his season with totals of 441 points and 238 assists and was named to the All-Big Ten First Team.
Conley joined fellow Buckeye teammates Greg Oden and Daequan Cook in declaring for the 2007 NBA draft. Conley and Oden were represented by Conley's father who became certified as an agent by the NBA just prior in the year. Conley was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the fourth overall pick. He averaged 10.8 points and 4.3 assists per game on the year.
Conley became the permanent starter for the Grizzlies in 2009. He averaged 12.0 points and 5.3 assists on the season. Conley averaged 13.7 and 6.5 assists during the 2010-11 season to help the Grizzlies make the playoffs for the first time in five years. They entered with the eighth seed in the Western Conference and were matched up with the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round. Conley and the Grizzlies went on to defeat the Spurs in six games and became only the second eighth seeded team to defeat a first seed in a seven-game series in NBA history. They then lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the semi-finals in seven games.
For the 2012-13 season, Conley averaged 14.6 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game as the Grizzlies made the playoffs once again. They eliminated the Los Angeles Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder on the way to reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. They then lost to the San Antonio Spurs in four games. Conley was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team for the first time.
For the 2013-14 season, Conley averaged a career-high 17.2 points, 6.0 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game on the year as the Grizzlies made the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. They were then eliminated in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games. Conley was the recipient of the NBA Sportsmanship Award.
Conley received his first technical foul in 2014 but it was overturned by the NBA the following day;he has yet to get a technical foul—by far the longest streak of any NBA player. On April 23, Conley was awarded the NBA Sportsmanship Award for the second time. On April 23, Conley was awarded the NBA Sportsmanship Award for the second time. On March 27, 2019, Conley passed Marc Gasol to become the Grizzlies' all-time leader in career points. On July 6, 2019, the Grizzlies announced that they had traded Conley to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Grayson Allen, Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver and draft rights to Darius Bazley. Conley was named The 2018-19 Tywman Stokes Teammate of the Year and given the 2018-19 Sportsmanship award. He is the first player to win both the awards simultaneously.
On February 9, 2023, Conley Jr. was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a three-team trade involving the Los Angeles Lakers reuniting with his former Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert.
Conley's father is Mike Conley Sr. who was the Olympic gold and silver medalist in the triple jump. He is also the nephew of former American football linebacker Steve Conley. In addition to basketball, Mike Conley Jr. was the executive producer on the film “Two Distant Strangers”.
