Chris Finch and Mike Conley - Minnesota Timberwolves
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Timberwolves are back on the floor tonight, at home, against the Houston Rockets. Not only are the currently 5-seed Wolves jockeying for their final spot in the Western Conference playoff field, but the Rockets currently sit just a half-game behind them, in the six seed.
Thankfully, behind Houston, the Suns have fallen off a cliff. Now four games out of the six seed, Phoenix has essentially locked itself into the play-in tournament, in-turn making life for teams ahead of them in the West much less stressful, with just ~10 games remaining in the regular season.
And now that the MN Timberwolves are essentially in the 2026 NBA Playoff field,their head coach Chris Finch can focus on what has really been bothering him of late.
Chris Finch devastated by Mike Conley benching
While you might think that’s been the knee injury of Anthony Edwards. what’s really picking at Finchy of late is the benching of veteran point guard, Mike Conley — who has played in just one of the Wolves’ 11 games this month — under seven minutes in Minnesota’s 147-111 beatdown of the Utah Jazz on March 18.
When asked Tuesday during a media scrum how much it’s hurt him to cut Conley’s minutes, the Wolves head coach didn’t hold back and nearly got emotional talking about it.
Asked Chris Finch what it's been like removing Mike Conley from the rotation.
"It's been one of the hardest things I've ever done in coaching, to be honest with you… Particularly with who he is as a person and a professional, and everything that he's done for us. Feels like a… pic.twitter.com/jSeYDaP3BD
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) March 24, 2026
“It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in coaching, to be quite honest with you. I still think that Mike has things in his game that can help us and I think it’s been very difficult, particularly with who he is as a person and a professional, and everything that he’s done for us. It feels like a crime against humanity.”
“he’s the ultimate professional and we still communicate all the time about [his playing time]. The way it all went down and everything was very tough. Fortunately, we were able to get him back. Yeah, it’s just… it’s been hard. These are hard choices. Fortunately, the guys that have stepped up into his minutes have played well and he’s rooting hard for those guys.”
Chris Finch on benching Mike Conley – via Dane Moore (@DanMooreNBA on X)
The first 1.5 years after Minnesota traded for Mike Conley, he averaged over 11 points, 6 assists and nearly 3 rebounds per game (29.5 MPG). Last season, he fell to 8.2 points, 4.5 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game (24.7 MPG).
Reality: MN Timberwolves are better without Mike Conley
But this season, at 38 years old, Conley’s averages have plummeted to 4.1 points, 2.9 assists and just 1.7 rebounds per game (17.8 MPG). Yet only recently has Finch really been intentional about keeping Conley off the floor.
Other than one game (3/20 vs POR) where he was made inactive, Mike Conley has been on the bench and available for Chris Finch to play. Yet, he hasn’t been summoned to even take his warm-ups off.
While his benching might be eating at his head coach, Conley doesn’t seem concerned and isn’t taking his head coach’s comments too seriously.
Mike Conley on Chris Finches “crime against humanity” comment regarding Conley not playing
“(Laughs) I think he just likes me as a person, I don’t think it has anything to do with anything else but he understands that we just love having our guys out there, we love playing for… pic.twitter.com/UR8b3eV0dr
— Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) March 25, 2026
I understand Finch’s love for Mike Conley, and he isn’t exaggerating when he props up what the 19-year NBA veteran has done for the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise..
Like Finch, we should never forget Mike Conley’s impact on MN Timberwolves
President of basketball operations Tim Connelly has swung quite a few trades, since he was hired in May, 2022. A couple of those deals — the Rudy Gobert blockbuster and KAT for Randle/DiVincenzo swap, for example — were significantly larger scale than when he acquired Mike Conley.
I will never fully understand why the Utah Jazz (and Danny Ainge specifically) agreed to trade Mike Conley to Minnesota.
They essentially gifted the Timberwolves the passcode to unlock Rudy Gobert, which has in turn unlocked everything else for this team.
— Kyle Theige (@KyleTheige) December 22, 2023
However, none of those moves galvanized the Minnesota Timberwolves locker room more than when he traded D’Angelo Russell (a known Rudy Gobert hater and locker room agitator) to Utah, in exchange for Mike Conley (a friend and known believer in Gobert ).
Overnight, that move by itself made the Wolves into a Western Conference contender. Of course, that was three years ago. Now 38, Conley is a shell of the basketball player he was, even that short time ago. In fact, Mike’s fall statistically has been off a cliff so steep, it’s difficult to see the bottom.
Mentioned in this article: Chris Finch Mike Conley
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