NBA: 6 Longest Serving Active Players To Have Represented Only One Team
The league today doesn’t have many players that are loyal to their team. Sometimes it’s not the player’s fault. Maybe the organization just needs a new face on their team. Maybe the player just isn’t good enough or their play style doesn’t fit with the team. Maybe they are just getting old and aren’t as athletic as they use to be in their youth.
What we do know is there are not that many players that stick around with their team whether that be their choice or not. And for those athletes that do stick with their team through the highs and lows, good for them for sticking around and staying loyal to their organization.
This list will highlight the careers of players who stuck around with their organization for longer than a decade.
Honorable Mentions:
DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers 10 years
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder 10 years
Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies 10 years
#6 Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies - 11 years
Conley was drafted 4th overall by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2007 NBA Draft. He proved to the organization that he was going to be their new starting point guard from the start of his career. After his rookie season, he started in majority of his games switching with a fellow sophomore point guard by the name of Kyle Lowry. After that season Conley has started in every single game for the Grizzlies except for one and I’m not even sure why he didn’t start for that game.
Conley is a decent player, but I wouldn't pay the massive contract that the Grizzlies gave him in the 2016-17 season of $26.54m. And it increases every year to $28.53m this season, $30.52m in the 2018-19 season, and $32.51m in 2019-20 season. Conley at the time had the largest contract to a player until this offseason where we saw some monster contracts that make Conley’s look small. But it’s not about the large sum of cash that made Conley stick around for the previous nine years.
The Grizzlies have made it the playoffs seven times with Conley losing in the first round four times, losing in the semifinals two times, and losing in the conference finals one time. Right now Conley is injured and is still taking it week by week. The Grizzlies are currently 8-18 placing them 14th in the Western Conference. With how tough the Western Conference is this year, I doubt the Grizzlies will make it into the playoffs this season without a miracle.