'We don't treat him like he's some septuagenarian': Mike Conley's minutes in Year 18

Conley could see less games this season, if he goes along with it, but his role will be as crucial as ever.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley (10) poses for photos on media day at Target Center in Minneapolis on Sept. 30, 2024. / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Mike Conley might not be the oldest player on the Timberwolves roster, something he took the opportunity to point out at the team's media day on Monday, but he's aware he can't stop and start like 19-year-old rookie Rob Dillingham anymore.

Conley will turn 37 in 10 days and he's entering his 18th NBA season. Conley is also a player the Timberwolves will be relying upon heavily this season. Coach Chris Finch was quick to bring up his name when discussing how to improve the team's late-game offense, and it's clear the Wolves will be relying upon him as the primary general of their offense.

The Timberwolves, at times, struggled when Conley wasn't on the floor last season, and they will certainly need the 36-year-old point guard to stay healthy if they're to achieve their lofty goals of winning a championship this season. Last year, Finch did monitor Conley's minutes, but oftentimes Conley would like to keep things rolling if he's playing well. Conley was mostly healthy last season — he played 76 games — but was slowed and missed time in the playoffs due to a calf injury.

"Obviously Mike is kind of getting up there in age, but we don't treat him like he's some septuagenarian or something like that," Finch quipped. "He does a really good job of communicating with us, talking with us about how he feels."

Finch said they will be mindful of his minutes again this season, but said the injury in the playoffs was more of a freak thing. The goal of managing minutes during the regular season is to allow players to be full go for the playoffs anyways.

In addition to watching his minutes, Conley said Finch told him he may not play as many games this season.

"I don't know if I'm gonna go with it. We'll see," Conley said.

As far as his health, Conley said he's feeling good coming into the season. He had a full month to work through the calf injury that was bothering him in the playoffs, and he said he spent the better part of the offseason working on his body.

"My offseason is all about staying healthy, working on my body, diet, all that stuff," Conley said. "That's the only reason I'm probably still here, you know, honestly. I do play basketball here and there. I do make sure that I work on my game, but really just mostly on my body and taking care of that treatment."

That's something Conley has taken seriously throughout his career, and particularly in the latter years as he's now stretched it out to an 18th season. It's clearly working as Conley was incredibly effective last season for the Wolves, averaging 11.4 points and 5.9 assists in 28.9 minutes per game while playing 76 of 82 regular-season games. Conley was a key piece of a Timberwolves team that reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in 20 years.

Conley feels good and is ready to run it back again this year. After all, he's not a septuagenarian.