The drought is over.
It took 14 seasons, but former Buckeye guard and current Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley Jr. has finally made his first NBA All-Star team. He’ll join Team Durant as the replacement for Devin Booker who will sit out with a left knee sprain after earning an All-Star bid himself in place of Anthony Davis who’s missing the game due to a right calf strain.
Mike Conley: #NBAAllStar
Congratulations, @MCONLEY10!!! pic.twitter.com/aXzMNgY1Da
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) March 6, 2021
For years, Conley has earned a reputation as one of the best players ever not to play in the All-Star Game despite a career spanning nearly a decade and a half during which he has averaged 14.9 points, 5.6 assists, three rebounds and 1.4 steals.
A former No. 4 overall selection out of Ohio State in the 2007 NBA Draft, Conley starred for years with the Memphis Grizzlies before being dealt to the Jazz prior to the 2019-20 season as his former team began to retool its roster and begin a rebuild. He struggled in his transition to Utah a year ago, averaging his fewest points per game (14.4) in eight years.
However, Conley bounced back to record 16.1 points, 5.7 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game as a 33-year-old veteran point guard this season. He wasn’t initially voted an All-Star, but due to injuries, the streak of him just missing the cut came to an end on Friday night.
