Jazz point guard Mike Conley won’t exercise the early termination option on his contract for the 2020/21 season, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
Unlike a standard player option, an early termination option must be exercised in order for the player to reach free agency immediately — as its name suggests, it ends the contract early. By waiving that ETO, Conley is essentially opting into the final year of his contract in ’20/21. He’ll earn a $34.5MM salary next season before becoming a free agent in 2021.
Conley’s decision doesn’t come as a surprise. Following a somewhat up-and-down first year in Utah in 2019/20, the 33-year-old was unlikely to come anywhere close to matching his $34.5MM salary if he had opted for free agency and signed a new deal — especially with the NBA’s salary cap remaining flat at $109MM.
After 12 seasons with the Grizzlies, Conley was sent from Memphis to Utah last summer. He averaged 14.4 PPG, 4.4 APG, and 3.2 RPG with a .409/.375/.827 shooting line in 47 games (29.0 MPG) for the Jazz. The veteran guard got more consistent and found his footing as the season went on, recording 19.8 PPG and 5.2 APG on .484/.529/.864 shooting in five postseason contests.
With Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert all locked up for next season and Bojan Bogdanovic expected to be back following wrist surgery, the Jazz will be looking to make a deeper playoff run in 2021. The team is expected to focus on bolstering its wing defense this offseason, as well as possibly extending both Mitchell and Gobert.
Accounting for Conley’s substantial cap hit, Utah is now an over-the-cap team, with approximately $112MM in guaranteed money committed to eight players. Even after adding the cap hold for their first-round pick and multiple non-guaranteed salaries to that figure, the Jazz should have the flexibility to use their full mid-level exception and/or re-sign Jordan Clarkson.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Team salary 112m
Cap hold 5m
Clarkson 10m
Subtotal 127m
Not allowed to use full MLE？
Who would decline all that money anyway lol. Of course he gonna opt in
Depends on how much money you already have and how bad the situation is there. I’m not saying Utah is a bad place per se, but money will not make up for any place that you don’t enjoy IF you already have more than enough money to live on. I assume that is Conley’s case, unless he is just a really bad money manager.
The Jazz should’ve never traded for Conley. He’s injured most of the time and it’s a hit or miss when he plays! Trade trade!
The problem with trading him is that you have another team that wants him. The only type of return the Jazz would get for him would be an equally bad or worse deal. Although you could use that to your advantage. Picking up a Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook for him wouldn’t be bad. And it wouldn’t hurt the cap that much until Mitchell’s extension kicked in. Mitchell and Gobert paired with either CP3 or Westbrook would not be a bad trio. I think Paul is a better fit though.
They might get Chris Paul for him, but not Westbrook.
I know you hold a serious grudge against Paul, but from a more neutral perspective, their values are probably very similar right now. If you take contracts out of the equation, Westbrook probably has more value. But Paul has 2 years and Russ has 3. With the extra year of crazy high salary, they even out somewhat.
Either way, I would rather have either over Conley, who I believe is one the most overrated players of this century.
Paul is always going to be a better fit.
Conley too though he has to be a PG.