Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley ‘hurts a lot’ after falling short of NBA Finals again

OKLAHOMA CITY – As Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” blared through the Paycom Center speakers while the Oklahoma City Thunder and their fans celebrated advancing to the NBA Finals, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr. walked off the floor distraught, knowing his 18th NBA season had ended again without putting a ring on it.

At 37 years and 229 days old, his third Western Conference finals and second in as many years came up short as the Timberwolves were eliminated after being routed 124-94 in Game 5 on Wednesday night. Knowing how tough it is to have a shot at the NBA Finals in a 30-team league, Conley took coming up short again painfully.

“When I was walking off the floor I was thinking, ‘Not again.’ It was a nightmare, man,” Conley told Andscape. “Hearing the music and the fans, it was kind of a moment where you hope it ain’t your last chance. You look at every last detail of everything going through your mind. You don’t want to forget it. And you don’t want it to be your last memory of it.”

While no one knows what tomorrow holds, the sting of being eliminated a step away from the NBA Finals didn’t appear to hit Timberwolves All-Star guard Anthony Edwards anywhere close to as hard as it hit Conley, who acknowledged age had a lot to do with a difference in perspectives. Edwards is only 23 and has already won an Olympic gold medal with USA Basketball in 2024 and made two trips to the Western Conference finals within the first six seasons of his NBA career.

To Edwards’ credit, he said he was going to work harder than anyone during the offseason. When asked by Andscape how much it hurts to come up short of the NBA Finals two years in a row, Edwards said: “It’s exciting. I don’t think we’re hurt. It’s exciting for me. I’m 23. I get to do it a bunch of times. I hurt more so for Mike and coming up short for Mike.

“We tried it last year. We tried it again this year. We will try again next year. But hurt is a terrible word. I’m good.”

Conley certainly has a different perspective. He didn’t make his first Western Conference finals appearance until 2013 when his then-Memphis Grizzlies were swept by the San Antonio Spurs. He has a career record of 2-12 in the Western Conference finals. Meanwhile, Edwards — who averaged 23 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game in the Western Conference finals — is a three-time NBA All-Star projected to have many years of basketball ahead of him.

“I can’t expect him to understand, honestly,” Conley said about Edwards to Andscape. “I don’t think he truthfully does. He has a lot of time, and I know he knows that. But for me, I’m on the other end of it. I know how hard it is. It hurts a lot. I wanted it so bad. I wanted it for these guys.”

It didn’t take long for Conley, Edwards and the Timberwolves to realize that their season was coming to an end on Wednesday. The Grizzlies entered the NBA playoffs as a sixth seed in the West after winning 49 games, then advanced to the Western Conference finals after disposing of the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. Meanwhile, the Thunder had the NBA’s best record at 68-14 and entered Game 5 needing one win to make it to the Finals for the first time since 2012 and just the second time in Oklahoma City franchise history.

The Thunder opened the game with force and focus, finishing the first quarter with a 26-9 lead. Despite being down 65-32 at halftime, Conley still believed the Timberwolves had one more run left in them. He was wrong, as the Thunder led 73-43 with 7:36 remaining and were never challenged en route to clinching the West.

“I thought we had a run in us in the beginning of the third,” Conley said. “And they just, no matter what we did, if we scored they hit us over the head again on a 6-0 or had another run in them. I was like, ‘Man, it’s going to be hard to break. If we can’t get it under 20, we don’t have a chance.’ And at the end of the third, the beginning of the fourth, it was like, ‘Here we go. This might be it.’ ”

Said Edwards: “They came ready to play. We didn’t.”

While Edwards took the loss in stride, he did truly feel bad for Conley.

“I love Mike. I call him Unc, OG,” Edwards said. “I’m disappointed we couldn’t make it happen for him again this year. But we will be right back trying to make it again next year. We’ll come a little bit more prepared, be ready. We know what to expect. It should be fun gearing up for next year.”

As Conley tried to cool down in the locker room, he eventually looked at his phone where there were several positive, motivational messages. There were also messages from his wife, Mary, who was back home in Minneapolis with his three young boys.

“Her three words were, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I know she doesn’t know what to say,” Conley told Andscape. “She knows how much time I put into it and how much sacrifice I make away from them and how I treat my mind and body after this process. I will call her after this, but it still hurts.”

After Conley and Edwards shared the postgame podium together, they headed toward the team bus heading to the airport to return home to Minneapolis for the start of the offseason. Waiting for Conley in the hallway was his father, Mike Conley Sr. — an Olympic gold medalist.

There is actually championship motivation for Conley from his father’s Olympic journey. Conley Sr. won a silver medal in the men’s triple jump in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics at 21 years old. He finished fourth in men’s triple jump USA Olympic qualifying in 1988 and didn’t make the team. But during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Conley Sr. redeemed himself at 39, winning the gold medal in the men’s triple jump.

“I feel for him. I understand,” Conley Sr. told Andscape. “I was picked to win a gold medal and didn’t do it until ’92. But you got to keep pushing. The thing is he wanted to go to a team where he had a chance. And he’s there. So, he just has to figure it out.

“It’s tough. That was a tough one for me.”

Conley is entering the last year of his contract with the Timberwolves next season. It will be his 19th season with a goal of ultimately playing 20. Edwards and center Rudy Gobert are under contract next season, but the Timberwolves could look very different as forward Julius Randle and center/forward Naz Reid have player options for next season, and key reserve guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker will be an unrestricted free agent.

The unknown of the offseason might have also added to Conley’s anxiety about not making it to the Finals. But with his love for the game still strong, he will return next season dreaming of finally making it as he nears 40.

“My body is good,” said Conley, who averaged 8.2 points and 4.5 assists this season. “I could still move, do what I need to do. Sacrifices of the team. I won’t be retiring because I can’t move or anything like that. When the time is done, it will be over with.”

If or when Conley’s playing time ends without an NBA title, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch is confident he will figure out a way to eventually get the elusive ring in a different role.

“Mike is super upset,” Finch said. “We all wanted to go far and win it all for Mike Conley, if not for anyone else. It’s what he’s meant to us. It’s who he is as a person. We still have him next year. The key to these things in the league is trying to get here as many times as possible. …

“It’s very hard to do. But maybe it works out for Mike in a different way. Maybe [he] wins one as a coach. Maybe he wins one as a general manager. There are a lot of things that can happen in the future. But we’re going to keep battling for him and for the organization.”