Mike Conley And Al Horford Are About To Join The NBA’s 20-Season Club… And They’ll Have Nearly $600 Million To Show For It

The NBA free agency period is in full swing. We’ve seen several players sign extensions with their current teams or head to new squads. Marquee stars, such as former Finals MVPs Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jaylen Brown, have been traded during the offseason and are beginning lives with their new teams.

Amid all those signings, two players have accomplished something very few guys ever have. Mike Conley Jr. and Al Horford will become just the 13th and 14th NBA players to play 20 NBA seasons.

Both players met in the 2007 NCAA championship game, when Horford’s Florida Gators defeated Conley’s Ohio State Buckeyes. A few months later, they were selected one pick apart in the 2007 NBA Draft. And both guys have had productive NBA careers ever since.

Horford signed a two-year deal with the Golden State Warriors. Meanwhile, Conley recently agreed to a one-year deal with the Boston Celtics.

Mike Conley (L) and Al Horford (Christopher Evans/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

That puts the players in rarefied air alongside NBA legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Dirk Nowitzki. And of course, there’s still LeBron James, who will be entering his 24th NBA season, an NBA record.

Horford and Conley have had starring roles for the majority of their careers, though they’ve rarely been the best player on their respective teams. Yet they’ve still amassed impressive paydays.

Mike Conley (L) and Al Horford (Christopher Evans/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

Al Horford’s Long And Lucrative Career

Horford is a five-time All-Star and reached the All-NBA Third Team in 2011. He was a key piece of the Atlanta Hawks teams that saw success in the 2010s, success that was routinely thwarted by LeBron James’ Heat or Cavaliers teams in the playoffs, before heading to Boston.

He also spent a season apiece with the Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder before returning to the Celtics in 2021.

It was that second stint in Boston where Horford earned his lone NBA title, hitting several big shots for the champion Celtics in 2024. After the next season, Horford joined the Golden State Warriors.

He currently has made slightly less money than Conley, though his next deal will knock him over the $300 million threshold. Horford will have about $304.8 million in career earnings by the time his latest deal ends.

Mike Conley’s Nearly $300 Million NBA Career

Meanwhile, Conley once had the richest contract in NBA history. The Memphis Grizzlies re-signed him to a five-year, $153 million deal in 2016. Today’s top contracts are double that, with money flying around the NBA as the salary cap continues to increase.

Prior to Boston, Conley spent 12 seasons in Memphis and four apiece with the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves. He was an All-Star in 2021 and, perhaps more impressively, has never received a technical foul across 1,226 regular-season and 83 playoff games.

What a calm soul!

Counting his next contract, Conley will have made nearly $300 million in career earnings.

The 2007 Draft Class Is Still Going

Horford and Conley are two of four players from the 2007 NBA Draft who remain active. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green are also still in the NBA, though they’ve both missed entire seasons due to injuries or medical conditions.

It’s an impressive showing of longevity. And it turns out you can make quite a bit of money over 20 seasons.

To put Mike Conley and Al Horford’s longevity in perspective, both players now rank among the 30 highest-earning NBA players of all time. They are not quite in the top 20, but they are right on the doorstep. Horford currently ranks #29 and Conley ranks #30 in career NBA earnings through the 2026-27 season. Together, the two 2007 draft classmates have earned more than $592 million in NBA salary alone.