This Incredible Mike Conley Jr. Stat Explains Why The Celtics Signed Him originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here. We now know what the Boston Celtics expect from Mike Conley Jr. The Celtics recently signed the 38-year-old point guard to a one-year, $3.9 million contract. It wasn't clear at first how big of a role Conley would have in Boston, but Brad Stevens recently shared his vision for how he could fit into Joe Mazzulla's rotation. "People talk about veteran leadership and they talk about how important vets are. My argument to that would be good vets are really important," Stevens said. "Guys that really have a great understanding of where they are in their careers, how they impact winning and the appropriate amount of expectations from the individual's standpoint. "I think that's what you get with Mike, and he's still, every time he plays, has a big impact on winning. I think the balance of being able to play at a high level and not being able to play every minute of every game is an incredibly valuable thing." So it sounds like Conley's minutes could be up and down all season long, but the Celtics expect him to make an impact whenever he's in the lineup. Conley's All-Star days are behind him, but there's still one thing he does exceptionally well that could help the Celtics. MORE:Celtics Given Bold Prediction That Would Make Jaylen Brown Trade Sting Less One Mike Conley Jr. stat Celtics fans need to know The 2026-27 season will be Conley's 20th in the NBA. When he makes his Celtics debut, he will become the 14th player in NBA history to appear in 20 seasons. Through 19 seasons, Conley has played 1,226 regular-season games and a grand total of 37,588 minutes. Only a small group of players have appeared in more games or logged more minutes than Conley. Those aren't the numbers you necessarily need to know. They simply reinforce how remarkable the stat that matters actually is. Conley has been a starting point guard on some very competitive teams for much of his 19-season career, yet he's averaged only 1.8 turnovers per game for his career. Think of the steadiest point guards you know. Steve Nash? He averaged 2.9 turnovers per game for his career. What about John Stockton? 2.8 turnovers per game. Not even Chris Paul (2.3 turnovers per game) took care of the ball as well as Conley does. MORE:Here Are the 11 Players Ranked Ahead of Celtics' Jayson Tatum in NBA 2K27 Now, all of this comes with a rather large caveat: Conley has spent most of his career as a secondary or tertiary option on offense, not a primary one. And, of course, a 38-year-old Conley isn't someone the Celtics are going to run a lot of their offense through. That doesn't change the fact that Conley plays a position that requires him to handle the ball constantly. He's played with all sorts of players in his career, too, including a dominant post scorer in Zach Randolph, a rim runner in Rudy Gobert, and high-usage guards in Donovan Mitchell and Anthony Edwards. No matter the situation, Conley has always been a steady hand. There's no reason to expect that to change now that Conley is in Boston. He won't be expected to carry the offense. Instead, the Celtics are asking him to protect the ball, make good decisions and keep the offense moving when he's on the court. That's something he's done exceptionally well for nearly 20 years. More Celtics
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