One of the best stories from NBA Media Day came from Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley, who told a story about the time Kanye West called him in the middle of the night just to say he appreciates what he does on the court.
Speaking about the late night call from Yeezy, Conley says,
"It was like 12:30 at night, and I was just like, 'Hello?' He’s like, 'Yeah, this is 'Ye.' It was like, 'Who?' Just trying to put it together. Long story short, he was just like, 'Man, just come out to L.A., whenever you’re out in L.A., and we’ll get together.'…[He was like], 'Hey, I just want to let you know that I admire you. I really like what you do. I hate to see that you’re underrated.' I mean, just going through all these things. Like, he actually watches me play. That’s what I was thinking in my head: 'Man, he knows a lot about me.' He wasn’t reading off a paper or anything. He was just going like, 'Man, I think you should be up here. They just don’t see you like that.' I was like, 'Man, I’m 100 percent with you. I understand. What can we do? Help me!'…I’m looking for a feature or something. Put me in the background, sample some of my music.”
Kanye is probably right in saying the 29-year old point guard is underrated in the league, but the Memphis Grizzlies certainly don't view him that way. Last Summer the Grizz signed Conley to a five-year max contract worth $153 million which, at the time, was the largest deal in NBA history.
Conley had the best season of his career last year, averaging 20.5 points, 6.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game while leading the Grizzlies to a 43-39 record - good enough for the 7th seed and a first round playoff matchup against the Spurs. Despite his production on the court however, he still has not been named to an All-Star team in his career which is due in large part to the tremendous star power at the guard position in the Western Conference.
But he still has that Kanye co-sign.