The Minnesota Timberwolves have a problem, and it’s one the fans continue to clamor about.
After a five-game losing streak in the middle of January, a familiar pattern has emerged. The Wolves are starting games flat, playing without urgency, and compounding that lack of energy with lapses in focus. The result has been defensive miscues and an offense that too often grinds to a halt. For a franchise trying to break through the Western Conference finals ceiling, which it has hit in each of the past two seasons, those habits are troubling.
There are other concerns as well. After a hot start, Jaden McDaniels has cooled off offensively. The preseason optimism surrounding Terrence Shannon Jr. and Rob Dillingham has yet to materialize and seems unlikely to. This is not a roster firing on all cylinders.
Still, while it would be unfair to pin Minnesota’s struggles on one player alone, there’s no denying the Timberwolves have a Mike Conley problem.
Mike Conley’s Shooting Numbers Are Abysmal
Mike Conley, at 38 years old, is one of the five oldest players in the NBA. Outside of LeBron James, history offers very few examples of players at that age contributing meaningfully to winning basketball.
This season, Conley is averaging 4.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 18.6 minutes per game. While his reduced role makes raw per-game comparisons imperfect, the efficiency drop is impossible to ignore. He’s shooting just 32.9% from the field and 32.8% from three-point range — down sharply from last season’s 40% overall and 41% from deep. Over his last 10 games, those numbers have cratered further, to 23.7% from the floor and 26.7% from three.
Even across his last 20 games, Conley is shooting an abysmal 26% from the field and 24.2% from three, yet Chris Finch is still finding opportunities to start him.
Those shooting struggles aren’t just cosmetic. They’re actively hurting the Timberwolves.
It’s On Finch
This isn’t an indictment of Mike Conley or his career. He has been a model professional and a key piece in elevating Minnesota to its greatest heights in franchise history. The criticism, instead, falls squarely on head coach Chris Finch.
Finch values Conley because he knows where to be and how to organize the offense. That basketball IQ still matters—but knowing what to do is not the same as being able to do it. At this stage, Conley simply can’t execute at the level befitting an NBA rotation player.
Defensively, he’s too small and too slow, and opposing teams relentlessly target him. Offensively, he no longer threatens defenses from the perimeter, struggles to finish at the rim, and has lost the reliable floater that once defined his game. When he’s on the floor, spacing shrinks, and opponents are free to ignore him on offense and attack him on defense.
Finch’s continued reliance on Conley is damaging not only because of what Conley can no longer provide, but because of what it prevents. Minutes that could be used to develop players like Jaylen Clark and Joan Beringer—depth pieces who may be needed during a long postseason run—are instead being spent chasing a version of Conley that no longer exists.
Mike Conley had an excellent NBA career. For a decade, he was one of the league’s steadiest starting point guards. But in his 18th season, at 38 years old, he no longer has the juice to play a consistent role on a team with championship aspirations.
Until Finch acknowledges that reality, the Timberwolves will continue to have a Mike Conley problem — and it will keep holding them back.
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