Mike Conley's precipitous decline is one of Wolves' most glaring issues

Conley's production and efficiency have fallen off a cliff, and it's hurting Minnesota in a big way.

Dec 27, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley (10) brings the ball up the court during the first quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Mike Conley was one of the Timberwolves' most important players over the last two seasons. Acquired along with Nickeil Alexander-Walker in a savvy Feb. 2023 trade that sent D'Angelo Russell to the Lakers, the veteran point guard provided exactly what Minnesota needed down the stretch of that season and during last year's incredible campaign.

This year, Father Time appears to have hit Conley like a ton of bricks. The 37-year-old's production has fallen off dramatically, and it's one of the most glaring concerns with this current Wolves team. With how teams are aggressively doubling Anthony Edwards on the ball, the Wolves need Conley to be a strong facilitator and secondary scoring option to help ease Ant's burden in the backcourt. That hasn't been the reality of his 18th NBA season thus far.

Through 30 games, Conley is averaging 8.0 points and 4.4 assists on 35 percent shooting. That's down from 11.4 points and 5.9 assists on 46 percent shooting last season. In Saturday night's loss to the Pistons, Conley was scoreless on four shot attempts in 21 minutes and the Wolves were outscored by 14 during that time. Over the last 11 games, he's averaging 6.1 points on 31.9 percent shooting. He's been a black hole on offense and he's no longer a great defender at this stage of his career, even if he still has good instincts on that side of the floor.

Mike Conley falling off a cliff offensively feels like a pretty underdiscussed angle of the Timberwolves’ regression.

He was really integral to their offense last season and just does not have much of any juice left.

— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) January 5, 2025

Conley is actually shooting a decent clip from three-point range, hitting 36 percent of his five attempts per game. That's below his career mark (around 39 percent) and well below his elite level from his first two Timberwolves seasons (43.6 percent), but it's not awful.

The issue is that he basically can't make two-point shots this year. Conley is 18 of 44 in the paint this season, which is 41 percent. That's by far the worst mark on the Wolves' roster, and a major drop-off from the 52 percent of paint shots he made last season. He's somehow 1 for 14 on what NBA.com classifies as midrange shots, which is obviously also the team's worst (at least among players with at least five midrange attempts). Conley has always had a solid floater game, but he can't seem to find it this season.

It's not totally clear if Conley is just "washed" now or if other factors are playing a role. He said earlier this season that he's playing through a minor wrist injury that will eventually require surgery at some point. He's also had to adjust to this new roster. Julius Randle is the Wolves' secondary initiator behind Edwards, relegating Conley to more of an off-ball role. Previously, Conley was second in that pecking order, as Karl-Anthony Towns didn't have the ball in his hands on the perimeter as often as Randle does.

It might be a combination of all of those things. Again, he's 37 and in his 18th season, so it wouldn't be shocking if he's suddenly hit a bit of an age cliff.

Whatever the reason for Conley's precipitous decline, it's a major problem without an obvious solution. Chris Finch has said that he isn't planning on making changes to the Wolves' struggling starting lineup. And with rookie Rob Dillingham currently injured, Conley is the only true point guard available to Finch at the moment.

There's still time for Conley to turn things around this season. But if his struggles continue, Finch needs to seriously consider trying out Dillingham in a much more prominent role once he returns from his ankle sprain. The end of Conley's 15-plus-year run as a quality starting point guard may have arrived sooner than the Wolves were hoping.