After dealing with multiple health issues – including a wrist injury – last fall, Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley feels much better entering the 2025/26 season, having been able to do his normal work during the offseason, as Chris Hine of The Star Tribune writes.
“Completely different summer,” Conley said. “More what I’m used to, being able to work every day. As soon as we got out of the playoffs, I was back just being able to get into my routines and scheduled everything out like I normally do. I feel right on schedule for training camp and in shape ready to go. So it was a breath of fresh air to be able to work again and shoot basketballs and do all that, that I wasn’t able to do the summer before.”
Conley, who will turn 38 next Saturday, set career lows in several statistical categories in 2024/25, including points (8.2) and minutes (24.7) per game, as well as usage rate (14.4%). However, he has been more assertive in training camp, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, who notes that Conley believes he can bounce back and be more effective than he was last season if he gets a few more opportunities to initiate the offense.
“To be the best version (of myself), it’s having the ball, I think,” Conley told reporters on media day. “That doesn’t mean I need to shoot it. I don’t need to shoot, but as a point guard, I’ve grown up playing the position in the way I play it. You have a better feel for the game when you are initiating, when you’re controlling a little bit more, dictating how the game is flowing. You get kind of stagnant when you sit in certain areas, maybe sit in the corner for too long, or don’t touch the ball for a couple possessions, or four or five minutes.”
Of course, Conley often shares the floor with a pair of high-level scorers in Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, who both need the ball in their hands to be effective as well. But the veteran point guard made it clear he doesn’t want to take scoring opportunities away from either of those players, suggesting he can help get them easy points in fast-break situations.
“We talk about it all the time, and it’s something that I tell them every time,” Conley said, per Krawczynski. “If I get the ball, I promise y’all, I’m not trying to go shoot this thing. I promise you, if you run, I’m gonna throw it up to you. I want to play quarterback, all-time quarterback. That’s what I want to do.”
We have more on the Wolves:
- A year after being unexpectedly traded from New York to Minnesota as training camp was about to begin, Randle has a new three-year contract in hand and feels at home as a Timberwolf, according to Krawczynski. “Now it just feels very settled,” Randle said ahead of his second season in Minnesota. “I would say even this summer and leading up to the season is probably the happiest I’ve been in a really long time as far as just career, family, everything. … My work-life balance, or just my ability to separate the two, have been a lot better since I’ve been here.”
- Timberwolves wing Donte DiVincenzo didn’t play for Italy at this year’s EuroBasket tournament due to the turf toe issue that affected him last season and required him to play with a plate in his shoe. However, he told reporters this week that he feels “110 percent” ready for the coming season, per Hine. “I had the option to get surgery. I elected not to,” DiVincenzo said. “Surgery would have put me out, I think, five, six months, and we put a plate in the shoe to restrict that mobility of my toe. … Because now the season ended, I pulled the plate out of my shoe. I want to get back to being my normal self, and so it’s all precautionary. There’s nothing to worry about to start the season.”
- An offseason that should have been a rewarding one for Naz Reid, who signed the most lucrative contract of any 2025 free agent ($125MM over five years), took a tragic turn last month when his sister was shot and killed in New Jersey. The Wolves big man, a fan favorite in Minnesota, entered training camp this week with a heavy heart, as Krawczynski writes for The Athletic. “I’ve been (getting) better, been on the up and up,” Reid said. “A lot of people around me are supporting. Things don’t really go as planned in life, but you know, there’s a lot of situations where … like I said before, I’ve got a lot of support and it helps a lot.”
Donte, it’s time to come back to New York as soon as the opportunity presents itself. You never should have been traded. However, to get someone, sometimes you make a difficult choice to give up someone. Randle was the obvious choice. However, you had to go as well.
Its been nauseating listening to Wolves podcasts, every one of them has been trying all summer to tell us that the Wolves who clearly desperately needed to add another ballhandler didn’t need to add any ballhandlers. Now Conley is the answer. They could win 55 games and OKC is still going to destroy them in playoffs simply with ball pressure.
Even with another ballhandler, I don’t see them getting past OKC. Don’t get me wrong–I hope they do. Just don’t see any team getting past OKC (barring significant injuries)
The Nuggets gave them a tough time and got better. They have Jokic. I don’t think they’d beat okc, but they could