Alex ConoverWeb Editorial AssociateEmail 
Brandon Roy and Will Conroy have become close through the years—at times, a little too close. Like the time the two were in Canada for Jamal Crawford’s summer charity tournament and Conroy, knowing his friend is claustrophobic, convinced Roy to take an elevator and after entering began jumping around. The elevator stalled. Conroy was trying to get Roy riled up, but ended up in a jam as well. “I called down to the front office and asked to get some help,” Roy said, “but they said ‘you guys shouldn’t have been playing on there. We aren’t going to rush to get you off.’ So we were on there for 30 minutes. Eventually they called the fire dept and they helped us get it open; I never want to go through that again.” These days, Roy looks back on moments like that with a grin. The two long-time friends—Roy and Conroy met each other in middle school—have been through a lot playing together at the high school, AAU and collegiate levels, and this week at Minnesota State University-Mankato they went through Timberwolves Training Camp in hopes of becoming Wolves teammates this winter. It’s a connection that began as kids and remains as strong as ever today.
“It makes [Training Camp] a lot easier because we know each other,” Conroy said. “We hang out every day in Seattle.” The two players grew up in the Seattle area and emerged on a basketball scene that had included future NBA players like Crawford and Jason Terry before them. Initially, Roy and Conroy were rivals, not friends. They played against one another in their youths. Roy remembers Conroy playing for a rival team called the Wildcats wearing Penny Hardaway sneakers. The two remained rivals until Conroy transferred from Rainer Beach High School to Roy’s Garfield High School, where they made an instant connection on the varsity level.
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