Mike Conley bought hundreds of playoff tickets to give away to Grizzlies fans
Mike Conley is a really good basketball player. He’s also a really good person. He donated $1 million of his massive new contract to a Grizzlies charity. He’s never been whistled for a technical foul. He’s a Memphis Grizzlies fan favorite. And now he’s repaying some of those fans.
Conley purchased 500 tickets for Game 3 of his team’s series against the San Antonio Spurs, and will give the tickets away to fans Wednesday afternoon after practice (12:30 local time in the Grand Lobby at FedEx Forum). It’s unclear if Conley will actually be present to hand the tickets to fans, but that’s certainly what it sounds like.
Tickets will be given away on a first-come, first-serve basis, per the Grizzlies press release, and fans are allowed to claim two tickets each.
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It’s actually not the first time Conley has done this. He and Marc Gasol also bought 500 tickets last year — when both were sidelined and unable to play against the Spurs — and staged a similar giveaway. Because of demand — and perhaps because fans lined up in the rain — around 250 additional tickets were also given away. The first fan reportedly showed up at 4:30 a.m. last year.
Two years ago, it was Zach Randolph who sent fans to the game for free.
Tickets are actually still available for the home playoff opener through Ticketmaster, and are available on the secondary market for under $20 on StubHub. The Grizzlies ranked 23rd out of 30 teams in regular season attendance, and trail the Spurs 2-0 in a best-of-7 first-round series.
Regardless of the demand, though, and regardless of the lucrativeness of Conley’s contract, the biggest in NBA history, this is an awesome gesture to thank fans for their support all season.
The Grizzlies and Spurs tip off at 9:30 ET on Thursday.
