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Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley adds Oscar-winning producer to resume

Utah Jazz

Mike Conley (Utah Jazz media day 2020-21)

By: Spencer Burt

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Within the past year, Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley has gone through some life-changing experiences.

In August, he and his wife Mary welcomed a new son into the world — their third, named Elijah Michael Conley.

In March, Conley was selected as an NBA All-Star for the first time in his career — a move that many fellow stars and league veterans said was long overdue.

Not only did he play in the All-Star game, but he competed in the three-point contest, coming in second place just one point behind Stephen Curry. And although it was just over a year ago, Conley won the at-home NBA HORSE Challenge shortly after the 2019-20 season was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, Conley has added another impressive accomplishment to the list, unrelated to basketball.

He and fellow NBA All-Star Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets were executive producers of a short film that won an Academy Award Sunday night.

"Two Distant Strangers" won the Oscar for the best live-action short.

READ: Full list of Academy Award winners

The film, written and directed by Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, is about a man who is "stuck in a time loop that forces him to relive a deadly run-in with a cop." Rapper and actor Joey Bada$$ stars as the main character.

Conley and Durant join the late Kobe Bryant as fellow NBA players and Oscar winners. Bryant was the executive producer of "Dear Basketball," which was selected as the best animated short film in 2018.

Adding this latest accomplishment to the running list, as well as starting on the Jazz squad that continues to lead the NBA with the best record in the 2020-21 season, Conley is having a good year.