Mike Conley returns to Timberwolves and is OK with a reduced playing role

When the Timberwolves initially traded Mike Conley to the Bulls, he was in Toronto with his wife, Mary. It was the day before the Wolves played the Raptors there.

Conley assumed he would never suit up for the team again.

“You just sit there and we just stared at each other,” he said.

They tried to look on the bright side — how they had family and friends in Chicago and how they would deal with the situation in front of them.

What Conley didn’t know in the moment, but what would soon become clear, was that there was a way he didn’t have to uproot his family in the middle of the season, and that ultimately he would come back to the Wolves a few weeks.

This circuitous, paper-transaction-filled journey — which involved another trade to Charlotte, which then bought Conley out, making him eligible again to sign with the Wolves — officially ended Thursday, as Conley took the floor in a Wolves practice for the first time since the team traded him to Chicago on Feb. 3.

“We were lost without him. Nobody knew who to say ”1-2-3, Wolves" at the end of our huddle-up,” coach Chris Finch joked.

“Teams have their own agendas, and they might keep you, they might trade you, buy you out. I was just waiting to see,” Conley said. “Once I kind of got wind that [Chicago was] looking to trade me again, it was like, oh, this is where I started reading all the stuff about, ‘Hey, you could end up back in Minnesota.’

“I was like, ‘Can I? All right.’ Because that would be ideal to not have to do anything. Just take a break and come back.”

That ideal circumstance played out, with the Wolves saving around $20 million in luxury tax payments, trading for Ayo Dosunmu and bringing Conley back on a minimum contract.

But the role for Conley, who is averaging 18.5 minutes per game, could be different coming back with the addition of Dosunmu and the emergence of Bones Hyland. That’s OK with Conley, who said those players deserve to play a significant amount of minutes.

“I honestly don’t expect to be running out there playing a ton of minutes,” Conley said. “I don’t expect to be out there 20 minutes or anything like that. Ayo, Bones, all these guys, have earned their time and minutes on the court to get their opportunities and do what they do. I’m going to be ready and be prepared for whatever role that is, whether it’s in the rotation or spotty, whatever it is.”

“Everything’s on the table right now,” Finch said. “Got some things to work through. Those two guys, Ayo and Bones, have been great, no doubt about it. They’re a nice little combination, too. So we’ll just kind of take it day by day as we move forward.”

Conley, 38, acknowledged age has played a factor in the quality of his play this season and is ready for however small or large his role is. Above all, he’s happy to be back with the Wolves. He hadn’t left every team group chat after the team traded him; he said he stayed in the players-only chat. But he did leave the one that was a larger team chat that involved scheduling.

“I was kind of salty. I got out of that one,” Conley said.