Mike Conley Jr. is heading somewhere else, and the Timberwolves are moving on.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Wednesday, Conley is expected to sign a free agent deal with the Boston Celtics, ending his run in Minnesota before next season. The move would send the veteran guard into his 20th NBA season and make him only the 14th player in league history to reach that mark.
Conley has been part of the Wolves’ rotation since Minnesota brought him in at the 2022-23 trade deadline in a three-team deal involving the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers. His minutes have dipped each year, but his value inside the locker room never really changed. Last season, he averaged a career-low 18.4 minutes in 54 regular-season games and spent most of the year coming off the bench for the first time in his NBA career.
Minnesota had already started reshaping the backcourt around him. Donte DiVincenzo took over the second guard spot in the starting lineup, and after the team acquired LaMelo Ball last week and re-signed Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Hyland, the need for Conley just wasn’t the same.
The Wolves also traded Conley to the Bulls at last season’s deadline to land Dosunmu, only for Conley to return after clearing waivers. He never played a game for Chicago.
His departure also points Minnesota toward at least one more move. With Hyland, the Wolves currently have 12 players projected to be on standard contracts next season, and every NBA roster needs 14. Kyle Anderson could still return on a team-friendly deal, but Minnesota still needs at least one additional signing.
The guard group already looks crowded enough. Anthony Edwards, Ball, Dosunmu, Hyland, DiVincenzo, Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark, Josh Green and Isaiah Evans all sit in that mix, so Conley’s exit fits the way the roster has been shifting.
That leaves the frontcourt as the area everyone keeps watching, especially at power forward. A few names have already come off the board early in free agency, and while LeBron James has generated buzz online, that remains a dream scenario for Minnesota. For now, the Wolves have at least two open roster spots, and those are likely to go to forwards.
Conley was a well-liked presence in Minnesota over the past few seasons, but the fit had run its course. Now he’s off to Boston, and the Wolves are officially looking ahead.
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