SAN FRANCISCO – Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr. danced after his pregame workout on the Chase Center floor as the Golden State Warriors’ deejay D-Sharp spun, “Life is Good,” by Future. Once the song ended, the 37-year-old attempted a dunk.
After missing the first attempt, Conley threw down the second one before heading to the locker room satisfied.
“I’ve been doing that basically all this season,” said Conley on May 12 to Andscape about his pregame dunk ritual. “They were like, ‘You can’t dunk.’ I told them, ‘I’m pretty sure I can.’ My trainers and teammates, they told me I couldn’t dunk. I’m about to be 38. ‘I’m going to dunk and show y’all. If y’all are still dunking at 37, 38, I want y’all to holla at me at that time. If you not, I want you to give me my flowers.’ ”
Conley hopes to soon get his flowers as one of the oldest first-time NBA champions, but right now his Timberwolves are heading to the Western Conference finals for the second year in a row. The 18-year NBA veteran has never played in the NBA Finals. Since joining the NBA in 1989, the Timberwolves have also never played in the NBA Finals, having lost in the Western Conference finals in 2004 and 2024.
Standing in the way of Minnesota making its first Finals appearance are the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed, who average 24 years of age. The Thunder host the Timberwolves tonight in Game 1 (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET)
“Just excited for the challenge in front of us,” Conley said. “We get to compete against one of the best teams in the league for a chance to make it to the NBA Finals. We have been working hard and staying focused. So, it should be a great series.”
For the aging Conley, he is hoping that his third time of having a shot at the NBA Finals is a charm.
In 2013, a 26-year-old Conley made his first appearance in the Western Conference finals, but his Memphis Grizzlies were swept by the San Antonio Spurs. At age 36, Conley and the Timberwolves lost in five games to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 Western Conference finals.
After the series, he wondered if that was his last chance to make it to the NBA Finals.
“I was shocked, really, because I thought it was a special year,” said Conley about losing in the Western Conference finals last year. “I thought it was going to all make sense and we all were going to make it finally. My first thought was, ‘How long will it take for us to get back here again? Will it be next year. Will it be another year? I don’t know. Will it be the last chance I get?’
“All those thoughts popped in. But it got me going in the summertime hoping that we could do it again this season and have a chance.”
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Conley was selected with the fourth pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Grizzlies. The only players in the NBA still remaining from that draft include Conley, Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, Boston Celtics center/forward Al Horford and Houston Rockets forward Jeff Green. Horford won his first NBA title at age 37 with the Celtics last season.
Conley was born Oct. 11, 1987, in Indianapolis. He is now the 10th-oldest player in the NBA with Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James the oldest at 40. New York Knicks forward P.J. Tucker, a little more than four months younger than James, is the oldest player remaining in the playoffs at 40. Indiana Pacers forward James Johnson is 38. Timberwolves teammate Joe Ingles, 37, was born nine days before Conley.
“It’s scary, but an honor, too,” Conley said. “I don’t feel like I am that old, but I am that old. I got to be OK with it and look myself in the mirror and say, ‘Man, we’re still doing it.’ ”
Conley made 76 regular-season appearances during the 2023-24 season, his most since 2012-13, and played in 15 playoff games. Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said he didn’t plan on playing Conley in as many games this season in hopes of preserving him. Conley also entered this season with a lingering left wrist injury that hampered his ability to handle a basketball or play golf during the offseason. He averaged 8.2 points and 4.5 assists in 71 regular-season games this season while playing a career-low 24.7 minutes per game.
“One of the toughest injuries for me has been the wrist,” Conley said. “I had to be in a cast for like two months last summer. And during that time, I couldn’t shoot a ball, touch a ball. Nothing. That is not like me. Normally in the summertime I’m working and doing everything I can. So going into training camp, I had no strength [in my wrist]. It was weak, [there was] still pain and I was trying to work through some things.
“I was hesitant to do stuff and be myself. It’s been a battle all [season]. It’s something I’ve slowly gotten over with. Hopefully, it will be even better next season.”
Conley has a goal of playing in 20 NBA seasons. Next season will be his 19th and the final year of his contract with Minnesota at $10.7 million. Based on how Conley takes care of his body, he seems poised to reach his goal.
The Indianapolis native started being stricter and more routine with his diet and his workout regimen in 2018 after undergoing season-ending surgery on his left heel after trying various treatment options for a sore heel and Achilles. Conley felt his body was breaking down, and he said he needed to make a change to continue playing with less pain.
“I stopped eating red meat about eight years ago,” Conley said. “I did blood work and my body was deficient in some things, and less of some things. And the red meat was one of them. Something I do every day is I wake up around the same time at 7:30 (a.m.). I won’t eat until later until after 11 a.m. I drink water. It’s almost like a mini fast. I won’t eat after dinner, and dinner is like 6:30 p.m. I try not to eat anything from that point until the next morning.
“I try to extend that until after I get done with treatment and working out. I try to have a meal right then. I do a good job of cleansing my gut and my stomach. You got to get to healing from the inside-out at my age. Cut down the inflammation that causing pain and slowing you down at 35, 36, 37 years old.”
It’s rumored that James spends $1 million a year on his body, which he has refuted, to maintain his health. While Conley doesn’t invest $1 million, he says he does invest heavily financially into staying healthy and his longevity. He said he is in the cold tub twice a day and also does red light sauna and pool work daily as well as red light therapy, cryotherapy, stem units (which includes wearing them when sleeping when needed) and lays on a softball to release pain from sore areas.
“I don’t have as much money as him,” Conley said about James. “But I put a lot of money into my body as well. My diet is a big deal. My recovery is a big deal. I consider LeBron every now and then, ‘I’m trying to do what you do.’ Whatever that is, I need all that help.”
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Perhaps the most challenging part of being one of the oldest NBA players for Conley is what he is missing at home.
Conley and his wife Mary, have three sons: Myles, Noah, and Eli. Conley missed Noah’s birthday on May 12 because the Timberwolves were on the road in San Francisco in the playoffs. He missed Mother’s Day as well as the Timberwolves went on to defeat the Warriors 117-110 in Game 4 of their second-round series in San Francisco the next day.
“I missed my son’s seventh birthday, Noah James Conley,” Mike Conley said. “He’s the talker of the family. The little jokester. Just a bright, super-smart kid. He is my twin, the one that looks like me the most. He constantly wants me to cuddle with him every night. He wants to be around me all the time. He definitely wanted me to be there. It was tough for me not to be there. He understood why.
“But my wife did a great job of making him feel excited about himself. He had his little friends over with a birthday party. …I FaceTimed him when they sang Happy Birthday and his friends got there. I called at 7:30 a.m. (PST) to FaceTime just to make sure I got him before he got busy and he got to talk to me, and my wife as well with Mother’s Day. It was like a double whammy there. But still, I’m super thankful.”
There are 11 players on the Timberwolves roster who are under the age of 25, including 20-year-old rookie guard Rob Dillingham. Conley shares the backcourt with 23-year-old NBA All-Star guard Anthony Edwards. But after 18 seasons of playing with mostly younger co-workers, Conley says he still has a love and passion for the game.
“I’m having a ball, bro, honestly,” Conley said. “I tell the guys all the time, ‘If you see a day where I’m not smiling and not having a good time and loving being here, tell me to retire. Tell me to go home.’ That is one reason why I’m here. Being around these guys, the atmosphere, the game. The competitive atmosphere every day.
“You don’t get this anywhere else in life, especially at my age getting older. You really can’t take it for granted.”