Traded twice this week, Mike Conley will likely return to Timberwolves

Chris Hine, Star Tribune on Feb 6, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — It appears Mike Conley’s Timberwolves days aren’t over after all.

After trading him earlier in the week to the Bulls, the veteran point guard is likely to make his way back to Minnesota via the buyout market, sources confirmed on Friday. The sides are working on the timing of Conley’s potential return because, for salary-cap reasons, it might not happen immediately.

Typically, when a team trades a player who then gets bought out, he cannot sign with a team that trades him. But Conley’s case was different.

After the Bulls then traded Conley to the Hornets in a separate deal, the Hornets waived him Thursday, and since Conley was traded twice, the Wolves are now eligible to re-sign him.

This comes after the Wolves spoke of Conley in Toronto like they didn’t think he was coming back.

“Hopefully we can get him back,” Anthony Edwards said. “I don’t really know how it goes, but I keep hearing he can come back, so hopefully he will. Hopefully he sees this. We want you back, Mike. He know we miss him.”

Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert joked that he was speaking of Conley as if he hadn’t just left the Wolves.

“I’m kind of talking like he’s dead or something,” Gobert said. “Everything he brought is not going to leave with him. Everyone in this organization, and myself first, is very grateful for who he is as a player and mostly as a person and a leader. Hopefully when we lift that trophy in June, he will be a big reason why.”

Now it appears Conley will still be a part of a potential playoff run.

With this series of moves, the Wolves pulled off a nice trick at the deadline — they improved their roster while saving money at the same time.

By shedding Conley’s $10.7 million salary while surrendering a 2026 pick swap to Detroit in a three-team deal with Chicago, the Wolves ducked under the first apron of the collective bargaining agreement. That then allowed them to take on more money in a trade than they received. If they were above the first apron, that would not have been allowed.

That’s how they were able to swing another deal with Chicago to bring in Ayo Dosunmu and Julian Phillips while trading Rob Dillingham and Leonard Miller. Dosunmu and Phillips make about $1 million more combined than Dillingham and Miller ($9.7 million versus $8.7 million).

With the move, they also saved nearly $20 million in luxury tax payments. Of course, the moves did come with a cost in draft capital — that pick swap to the Pistons, plus the four second-round picks the Wolves gave up in the deal with the Bulls to land Dosunmu and Phillips.

Assuming Conley is the 14th rostered player, the Wolves still will have one roster spot remaining. But the timing of Conley’s return may be delayed as the Wolves attempt to stay under the first apron of the luxury tax, which would open them up to a wider pool of buyout candidates.

Currently, they are $1.5 million under the first apron, and any buyout player the Wolves sign, like Conley, would be on a pro-rated contract the rest of the season. That money would get added to their balance sheet.

But under league rules, the Wolves don’t have to sign a 14th player right now. They can carry 13 for the time being before having to sign a 14th player in about two weeks. The longer they wait to sign someone, the more money they save against the first apron. That may allow them to add a 15th player in the buyout market as well. If they were above the first apron, that wouldn’t be allowed for players making above the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which is $14.1 million.