{"id":614517,"date":"2026-02-20T22:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/614517\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:02:23","slug":"mike-conley-is-glad-he-could-come-back-to-the-timberwolves-even-if-his-playing-time-will-be-minimal-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/614517\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Conley is glad he could come back to the Timberwolves, even if his playing time will be minimal | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014\u00a0Mike Conley<\/a>\u00a0reunited with the\u00a0Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a>\u00a0this week as if he hadn’t ever left. That’s about right, because he was barely gone.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old point guard was back at Target Center with the Timberwolves on Friday when they hosted the Dallas Mavericks, their first game after the All-Star break. Conley was off the roster for a mere two weeks, having been traded to the Chicago Bulls on Feb. 3, sent to the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 4, and waived on Feb. 5.<\/p>\n

He re-signed on Tuesday with the Timberwolves, whose maneuvering made it possible to cut about $20 million off their luxury tax bill, move below the first apron to gain the flexibility to acquire\u00a0Ayo Dosunmu<\/a>, and bring back the revered Conley on a prorated minimum contract. Though he briefly left the official text message thread with practice times and other logistics, Conley stayed in the players-only group chat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two weeks off, that was great. The first two days off, it wasn\u2019t so great. It was a lot of \u2014 I call it \u2014 stress, but it\u2019s a little crazy,\u201d Conley said after practice on Thursday. \u201cBut after that, once I heard that I\u2019d be bought out and be a free agent, I was like, ‘Man, I won\u2019t have to come to work. Like, I don\u2019t have to do a dang thing. Stay-at-home-dad for a few days, got out to go on All-Star break a little early, got to enjoy some time with the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch joked that Conley’s absence left the team lost, because the 19th-year veteran usually leads the breakout from post-practice or in-game huddles with the, \u201cOne, two, three, Wolves!\u201d chant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a few of those quiet moments,\u201d Finch said, before transitioning his quip to praise. \u201cHonestly, he’s meant so much to us. We don\u2019t have the success that we\u2019ve had without him. It\u2019s great to have him back for all the reasons \u2014 the leadership and the maturity and the experience that he brings. So fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time in his career, Conley had found himself in a reserve role before the trade, his on-court value diminishing even if the overall benefit of his presence has continued to be appreciated throughout the organization. Averaging just 18.4 minutes per game this season, Conley fully realizes his playing time down the stretch will be even less with the arrival of Dosunmu and the emergence of Bones Hyland. Jaylen Clark and a now-healthy Terrence Shannon are in the mix for backup guard minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these guys have earned their time and minutes on the court to get their opportunities and do what they do. I\u2019m going to be ready and be prepared for whatever role that is, whether it\u2019s in the rotation or spotty, whatever it is. I\u2019m just thankful to be back around these guys,\u201d Conley said.<\/p>\n

As the Timberwolves reached the Western Conference finals in each of the last two years, players mentioned how badly they wanted to win for Conley, a four-time winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award and a two-time teammate of the year honoree by the league. He’s glad to get one more run at a title with this group, no matter his level of contribution over the next few months. The fact they’re 149-92 in the regular season with him on the roster with four playoff series victories can’t be discounted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d have been really unfulfilling not to be able to be a part of whatever happens, whether we win, lose or not,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cThis would be really awkward for me to go somewhere else, and have to leave that behind, you know? I kind of go all in wherever I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014\u00a0Mike Conley\u00a0reunited with the\u00a0Minnesota Timberwolves\u00a0this week as if he hadn’t ever left. That’s about right, because…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,294,293,177,4070,371,307,6,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-614517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-memphis-grizzlies","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-grizzlies","10":"tag-memphis","11":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","12":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","13":"tag-mike-conley","14":"tag-minnesota","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116105218921262491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}