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SALT LAKE CITY — It took a long time for Mike Conley to get back to the locker room after he wrapped up his pre-game warm-up.
He stopped on the sideline to talk to an usher and shook hands with Jazz arena announcer Dan Roberts. He stood and talked with Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson, and he reminisced with Jazz assistant Lamar Skeeter.
He couldn't take a step without someone stopping him, be it an old teammate, an arena worker, or a fan.
That pre-game scene alone showed the impact Conley left in his three-and-a-half seasons in Utah. And that was before the thunderous applause that greeted Conley when he was announced in Minnesota's starting lineup.
When the game started, he looked right at home back in Salt Lake City.
Conley scored a season-high 25 points to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 119-100 victory over the Jazz. He went 8-of-12 from the field and hit five 3-pointers. It was the type of performance that once brought enthusiastic cheers from the Jazz fan base (and it brought a few out on Saturday, as well).
With Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert both out, there was some scoring that needed to be made up — Conley did just that. In that sense, it was a typical Conley performance: He did what the team needed.
The schedule broke right for Conley on his first trip back to Salt Lake City. The Jazz and Wolves will play again on Monday, which gives Conley a few days in the place he once called home. His family even met him in Salt Lake City for the weekend.
"Normally, it's in and out, you're here one night and leave the next, and we're going to be here for a stretch of days, and so it allows me to be a little more comfortable," Conley said. "It feels more like home than a road trip."
Utah felt like home to the Conleys.
They came back last summer for a trip, and Conley's wife, Mary, and their kids came out again last fall. They connected with the community and with the organization, but the Jazz were moving in a different direction.
A team that once had championship aspirations had been methodically split up. Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Royce O'Neale and Bojan Bogdanovic were all traded over the span of seven months.
It was a full-on reset. Conley knew it was only a matter of time before he, too, would be on the move. But, now, a couple of years removed from the Jazz team that earned the No. 1 seed in the West, he's able to reflect on just how close they were to a title.
"Honestly, I think we were a couple of injuries away," he said. "It's frustrating because we can't control some factors, and that's really a part of winning. You look at Denver last year. They were one of the better teams and they were also one of the healthier teams as far as their main guys. If you can get that mix together, you have a chance to win at all, and I felt like we were right there."
He's using that experience now to help his current team.
Since training camp, he has let Anthony Edwards, Towns and the rest of the Wolves that you never know how quickly a championship opportunity can end.
"I've been a part of some really good teams, and it's not until you're done with those teams you realize how close you were. And little things here and there that you, like, get in the way of what might have allowed you to have that opportunity," Conley said. "So take advantage of it now, strike while it's hot, and be grateful for these opportunities, because you never know if you're gonna make it back to the playoffs again, or have a chance to have a team that can go further than that."
He found that out with the Jazz.
