Mike Conley has always been an overlooked member of this golden era of point guards. Conley operates in the type of subtleties that don’t get Vines RT’d but he’s played a lot of winning basketball since the Grizzlies returned to the playoffs in 2011 and upset the Spurs in the first round as the eighth seed.

Conley was always going to be worth more at his max number re-signing with the Grizzles than with another team but there’s still some sticker shock with him getting a five-year, $153 million deal that becomes the largest contract in NBA history. Conley benefits from the rising cap and a maximum salary system that punishes the NBA’s truest of superstars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant from letting the open market dictate their salary. The system reveals itself as farcical when Conley, a nine-year, 28-year-old veteran without an All-Star or All-NBA appearance breaks that type of record.

The injuries of Conley are concerning as are his age where he’s always operated physically using slimmer margins with his lack of length, strength and explosion. Conley’s season ended early with an Achilles’ injury. The track record for smaller point guards when they enter their early 30s is already discouraging. But Conley has tremendous toughness and will play through just about anything manageable.

Conley’s three-point efficiency has remained relatively flat in the mid to high 30s over his entire career. Conley somewhat subtly upticked his three-point attempts in 12-13 to now shooting well over four per 36 minutes. Conley’s jumper makes it impossible to defend him by going under screens and that sets up those enchanted floaters he’s built his career upon.

Conley scored a very good 1.02 points per possession in isolations with his tight and deceptive handle. 

Conley ranked 31st in the NBA in Real Plus Minus and sixth amongst point guards.

Conley’s defense is tremendous with his lateral quickness and commitment. Memphis having Conley slowing down opponents’ point of attack has always been an overlooked part of their strong defense that usually celebrates Marc Gasol and Tony Allen.

Years 4 and 5 of Conley’s deal will almost certainly look devastatingly bad for the Grizzlies but not re-signing him would have surely triggered a complete rebuild beginning with a Marc Gasol trade. The Grizzlies are all-in on continuing with this core re-signing Conley and Gasol in successive summers as well as adding Chandler Parsons. With Gasol having injury issues in Year 1 of his new deal to go with Parsons' own injury issues and Conley, these trio of contracts could all quickly be untradeable. If the decision for Memphis was to preserve the status quo and the motivation for that is higher since they owe their first rounders in 2017 and 2019, they've at least done well in adding Parsons but the risk of disaster is substantial. 

Grade for Grizzlies: C+

Conley gets to continue in a comfortable situation where the Grizzlies can remain pseudo-contenders for the next few seasons. Perhaps Memphis can rebuild on the fly and have multiple tracks with their veterans and a younger core. The Grizzlies did well on draft night with Wade Baldwin and Deyonta Davis, two players who could make immediate contributions.

The above about the richest contract without an All-Star appearance is hyperbole sympathetic to the top-5 players in the league as he's been a consensus underrated player for several years and has certainly been playing at an All-Star level. In another market, Conley would be truly appreciated and celebrated. Now he this financial distinction and gets to stay home.

Grade for Mike Conley: A