Tag: Mike Conley

Trade rumor rankings: Mike Conley, Russell Westbrook and more

HoopsHype ranks the five players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the past week, led by Mike Conley and Russell Westbrook.

As the doldrums of the NBA offseason continue, two of the biggest names on the trade market this summer have had their immediate fates decided, with Kevin Durant agreeing to rescind his trade demand and remain with the Brooklyn Nets and Donovan Mitchell somewhat surprisingly getting dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers for draft capital along with Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen and other assets.

Still, a few big names remain on the trade markets and have been mentioned in scuttle as of late, so we decided to return for another edition of our Trade Rumor Rankings series where we rank the five players who have appeared most on our trade page over the previous week.

Let’s go ahead and jump right in.

Lakers have interest in three Utah Jazz veterans

The Lakers haven’t given up on trying to move Russell Westbrook, and the Jazz may be a landing spot for him.

On Thursday, the Utah Jazz traded three-time All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they may not be done wheeling and dealing.

They are obviously starting a full rebuild project, and they still have a few veterans they may want to unload before the end of the summer.

The Los Angeles Lakers, meanwhile, would still love to unload Russell Westbrook and get some value in return for him.

Los Angeles is interested in three of the players the Jazz may want to trade — Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson — but with one caveat.

Via Lakers Daily:

“A possible swap for Conley could include Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick, although the Lakers would have to carry some of Conley’s salary in the 2023-24 season, as his deal is partially guaranteed.”

The Lakers reportedly want to keep as much salary cap space as possible open for next summer so they could go after Kyrie Irving, who could become a free agent at that time if he doesn’t sign an extension with the Brooklyn Nets.

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Should the Celtics try to trade for Mike Conley this offseason? One proposal thinks so

While Danny Ainge’s former team is locked in a battle with the Golden State Warriors for the NBA title, his current team is reeling. 

While Danny Ainge’s former team is locked in a battle with the Golden State Warriors for the NBA title, his current team is reeling. On Sunday, Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder stepped down from his position, much to the dismay of star guard Donovan Mitchell. Utah’s bowing out to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs this season cast doubt on the future of the Jazz’s core, which features defensive anchor Rudy Gobert and Mitchell.

Synder’s resignation, especially given Mitchell’s affinity for the head coach, is the latest tidal wave to approach a wooden skiff already suffering from leaks in its hull.

Naturally, Ainge’s inclination is to try to reshape the roster around the core instead of leaning into a rebuild.

Jazz season preview: Can they finally get over their playoff slump?

The Utah Jazz enter next season as a team with something to prove. They were stellar in the regular season but fell short in the playoffs.

The Utah Jazz enter the season as a team with something to prove after falling short in the last playoffs.

There is nothing easy about what Utah accomplished last year. They finished with the best record (52-20) in the league and outscored opponents by 9.0 points per 100 possessions, nearly three points better than what any other team achieved. How were they able to do that? Why didn’t it work in the postseason?

Below, check out our preview for the 2021-22 Jazz campaign.

Research: This postseason has had historically low All-Star power

You’ve probably noticed that the 2021 NBA playoffs have lacked much of the star power that is typically associated with postseason play.

You’ve probably noticed that the 2021 NBA playoffs have lacked much of the star power that is typically associated with postseason play.

Due to injuries and the early elimination of several big-name players around the league, the playoffs have felt very different than usual. Last month, four-time MVP LeBron James took to Twitter to apologize to fans who have not been able to watch their favorite players in action.

NBA All-Stars including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown, Mike Conle, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell and Chris Paul all spent time watching their team from the sideline during the playoffs.

James believes it was due to the shortened offseason but regardless of the reason, his assessment wasn’t unfair. To help quantify his point, we looked up the number of games played by All-Stars each postseason since the NBA’s first All-Star Game during the 1950-51 campaign.

According to our research department, on average, we have had 2.52 All-Stars hitting the court per game so far during the 2020-21 NBA postseason. That is the lowest mark since 2002-03 and the fourth-lowest overall in league history.

If you take away Devin Booker, who did not actually play in the All-Star game and was replaced by Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley, that figure drops down to 2.38. That number would be the second-lowest in league history.

Compare that to the playoffs as recently as in 2017-18, when the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that figure was as high as 3.12 All-Stars appearing per game in the postseason.

While we may not have a definitive answer as to whether or not the short offseason contributed to the influx of injuries, we can say with confidence that the typical star power was a bit more absent than usual this postseason.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report

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Playoffs hits and bombs: Jimmy Butler, Mike Conley, Julius Randle and more

HoopsHype breaks down four players who have been hits these playoffs and four who have been bombs, including Jimmy Butler.

The NBA playoffs always feature stars who step up to the plate and deliver bombs and others who wilt, be it due to lack of help, too much pressure being on their shoulders or whatever other reason, and actually bomb out of the postseason.

Just between the 2020 and 2021 playoffs, we’ve seen one player perfectly exemplify both: In the former postseason run, Jimmy Butler was one of the biggest hits while in the latter, it was the exact opposite, with the veteran swingman having the worst playoff campaign of any big-name player.

Below, check out the first edition of our new series, Playoff Hits and Bombs.

Thunder vs. Jazz: Lineups, injury reports, broadcast info (May 14)

See injury reports, projected lineups and how to watch the OKC Thunder game against the Utah Jazz.

With two games left on the schedule, the Oklahoma City Thunder will go up against a Utah Jazz team that is trying to win the top seed in the Western Conference.

Utah is just one game up on the Phoenix Suns, who own the tiebreaker between the two teams. To clinch, the Jazz need to either win out or hope the Suns lose a game.

That bodes well for the Thunder front office, who is hoping to keep a top-three spot in the NBA draft lottery odds.

Here are the details of how to watch:

Opponent: Utah Jazz
Date and time: May 14, 7 p.m. CT
How to watch: Bally Sports Oklahoma
Radio station: WWLS 98.1FM OKC

Congrats to Kevin Durant and Mike Conley, who exec produced an Oscar-winning short film

Congratulations!!

The photo you see above, of course, is not Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant and Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley.

That’s Martin Desmond Roe and Travon Free, who won Oscars for the Best Live Action Short Film of 2021, Two Distant Strangers. Their speech — see below — was extremely powerful.

But did you know Durant and Conley were executive producers of the short? They were! Per IMDB, it’s Conley’s first credit as a producer, while Durant has produced a few projects, including The Boardroom, the upcoming Swagger, and Basketball County: In the Water.

Durant was excited about the win, per his Twitter feed, and the Jazz (and some teammates) congratulated Conley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3-8_nIH0HU

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Jazz at Lakers: Return of Jazz regulars spells trouble for L.A.

The return of several key players for the Jazz was too much for the Lakers to deal with on Monday night.

The Utah Jazz were at something resembling full strength on Monday night and with their regular players in the lineup, they were able to dominate the Los Angeles Lakers and avenge their overtime loss from the weekend, 111-97.

Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley and Derrick Favors all returned to action on Monday night after missing Saturday afternoon’s overtime win by the Lakers. Conley (14 points, 10 assists) and Gobert (14 points, 10 rebounds) each finished with double-doubles in their return to action. Former Laker Jordan Clarkson, who started in the previous outing on Saturday, led the way for the Jazz with 22 points off the bench.

As for the Lakers, second-year guard Talen Horton-Tucker was the high scorer as he finished with 24 points off the Laker bench. However, the rest of the Lakers were held in check by the Jazz as no other Laker cracked the 20-point threshold on Monday night.

The Lakers lost on Monday night despite shooting over 40% from the 3-point line.