Mike Conley Traded To Jazz, References ‘City Of Utah’
Veteran NBA point guard Mike Conley Jr. was traded Wednesday from the Memphis Grizzlies, where he has played his entire career, to the Utah Jazz.
Per Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter, the trade has Conley going to Utah as Grayson Allen, Kyle Korver, and Jae Crowder head to Memphis along with the 23rd pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft and a future first-round pick.
The deal opens up the point guard position in Memphis, and it is expected to be filled by Ja Morant, who most NBA observers believe the Grizzlies will select with the second overall pick in the draft on Thursday.
Conley sent a Twitter message after the trade to thank Memphis for their support during his years on the team. He also welcomed himself to his new “city,” getting it wrong by referring to “the city of Utah.”
Utah, of course, is a state; the city where the team plays is Salt Lake City.
Conley soon deleted the tweet and retweeted with the correct city name. He was also good-humored about the mistake, posting another Twitter message to state he “meant to say city of Salt Lake! Lol.”
With the Jazz, Conley will take over the point guard position, which was held for the last two years by Ricky Rubio, who is expected to leave the Jazz as a free agent. Conley will join a starting lineup that also includes guard Donovan Mitchell, forward Derrick Favors, and center Rudy Gobert.
The great CITY of Utah pic.twitter.com/hFqz7CV6cK
— Joey Sullivan (@jsullivan35) June 19, 2019
The Grizzlies, if they draft Morant second, will have a nucleus that includes center Jaren Jackson Jr., center Jonas Valanciunas, and forward Kyle Anderson.
The 31-year-old Conley, who played college ball with Ohio State, played his entire career with the Grizzlies since he was drafted by the team with the fourth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. Conley’s teammate, Greg Oden, was selected with the top overall pick that year, but Conley has long outlasted him in the league.
In 12 NBA seasons, per Basketball Reference, Conley has averaged 14.9 points per game and 5.7 assists per game. Last season, he averaged 21.1 points per game for a Grizzlies team that had one of the worst records in the league.
Athletes have made such mistakes before. Multiple athletes, including Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jeff Teague (per Twitter), have referred to Minneapolis as “the city of Minnesota.” NHL player Joel Eriksson Ek, per the Minnesota Wild’s Twitter account, referred to Minnesota as a “nice city.”
