Mike Conley is starting to silence Timberwolves fans' long-term fear

Now in his 19th NBA season, Mike Conley of the Timberwolves turned 38 years old a little over two months ago. Including Chris Paul, he is the eighth-oldest active player (and some ahead of him, like Kyle Lowry, Garrett Temple, Jeff Green, and his teammate Joe Ingles, aren’t rotation players for their team).

For the first time in his career, Conley is mostly being utilized off the bench. There was much chatter around his struggles in last season’s playoffs, and he is clearly not near the player we saw in previous years. As a reserve playing around 20 minutes, though, Conley still provides value, and that was on display in Sunday’s come-from-behind victory over the Bucks.

Conley returns in Sunday's win

Sunday marked the return of Conley, who missed the previous four outings with right Achilles tendinitis. The 6-foot-1 point guard didn’t even play in the first quarter and just six minutes total in the first half. With Jaden McDaniels exiting the game about four minutes into the second quarter with left hip pain and not returning, Minnesota needed to find someone else to begin the second half in his place.

Enter Conley, who has made five starts this season when others have been unavailable to play. The Timberwolves were trailing by 12 at the start of the third quarter but outscored Milwaukee 55-40 over the final 24 minutes. Conley was a steadying force out there for the Wolves and played a large role in the comeback.

Playing over 18 minutes over the final 2 quarters, Conley totaled six points, four rebounds, and five assists, connecting on two of his three 3-point tries. The team was a whopping plus-20 in that time with the wily veteran on the court.

Now, at this point in his career, you aren’t always going to get a Conley who applies pressure on the defense and mans up one of the opposition’s top scorers. Ideally, Conley's 20 minutes per game dips to 15 if the Timberwolves can add someone via trade. Acting like Conley is cooked, though, couldn’t be further from the truth.

Conley is still a threat from deep and an impactful playmaker

Conley isn’t someone who will attack the rim often (and he’s shooting just 42.9 percent at the rim, albeit on limited attempts). He is still a threat, though, from beyond the arc and nearly automatic when he does get to the foul line (two misses on 29 attempts this season).

Conley also does well in taking care of the ball. He has an elite assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.88 on the year (83 assists compared to 17 turnovers). Conley has three games this season with at least five assists without a turnover.

In an ideal world, someone who seems like he should be more dynamic than Conley on the offensive end, in Rob Dillingham, would be the sexier choice to be in the rotation. Since Dillingham hasn’t made any type of second-year leap, though, trotting out Conley on the floor is what Chris Finch continues to prefer to do.