Jazz guard Mike Conley’s rough first season with the team is hitting another difficult patch. According to the team, Conley reinjured his left hamstring during Tuesday’s game against the Magic. He will be reevaluated during the team’s upcoming 3-game road trip.
Mike will be re-evaluated during the team’s upcoming road trip.
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) December 18, 2019
Per Shams Charania and Tony Jones of The Athletic, Conley is expected to miss multiple games with the injury. Prior to last night’s game against the Magic, Conley had missed the past five games with a tight hamstring. He left Tuesday’s game in the third quarter when the pain returned, finishing with seven points and six assists.
Charania reports the Jazz and Conley will re-evaluate the injury day by day with the plan of being safe with it long term.
Jazz guard Mike Conley Jr. is expected to miss multiple games with his reaggravated left hamstring and could miss multiple weeks, league sources tell me and @Tjonesonthenba.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 18, 2019
Utah traded for Conley in the offseason in hopes of shoring up a weak spot in its lineup. However, Conley has struggled to adjust to the Jazz system and is averaging near-career lows in scoring (13.2 ppg), shooting (36.5%), assists (4.6 apg) and steals (0.7 spg).
Joe Ingles, who has primarily been a reserve this season, began starting when Conley was out and has been scoring and shooting at a much higher clip. He had 16 points and 12 rebounds on Tuesday vs. Orlando and will likely continue in that role going forward.
The Jazz are 16-11 and No. 6 in the Western Conference, trailing the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets by two games in the standings. Utah visits Atlanta on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET, League Pass), Charlotte on Saturday (5 ET, League Pass) and Miami on Dec. 23 (7:30 ET, League Pass).
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.