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SALT LAKE CITY — Mike Conley's long wait is over.
Conley, who has been one of the premier point guards in the NBA for over a decade, is headed to his first NBA All-Star Game this Sunday in Atlanta.
The Utah Jazz point guard will replace injured Phoenix guard Devin Booker in the game, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced Friday. In addition to being in the game, Conley will also replace Booker in the 3-point contest that will take place before the game.
Conley will be Utah's fourth representative at the annual mid-season showcase, joining Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and head coach Quin Snyder.
Mitchell and Conley will be teammates in the game — playing for Team Durrant — but will be going up against one another in the 3-point contest. Conley is shooting 42% from the 3-point line this season.
The veteran point guard is averaging 16.1 points and 5.7 assists this season and has been an analytical darling, with multiple advanced stats rating him as one of the most impactful players in the league.
"I'm really happy to be even mentioned in the conversation again and really doing it my way — not trying to score 40 points per game and not trying to take 20 shots," Conley said last month.
Conley has long been considered one of the best players to never make an All-Star Game. And, yes, that is a distinction he's happy to drop.
"I'd rather kind of ditch that label — that would mean that I achieved that goal of being an All-Star," Conley said.
Especially because the honor has come playing the way he's always played.
"I'm doing it in a way that I know I can affect the game and be unselfish and be efficient, play defense and be the two-way player I've always been," Conley said. "To be looked as an All-Star is pretty cool."
