Lauren Bauler was sitting and waiting for Mike Conley at Billy Hardwick's All-Star Lanes Saturday with her husband, and so she had a minute to tell the story of how she ended up here in a clean Mike Conley T-shirt, with a marker for an autograph and a cell phone for a photo.

When she began dating Matthew Bauler about six years ago, they started going to a lot of Grizzlies games. And though she fell in love with and eventually married Matthew, she also developed an affinity for the Memphis point guard.

"He's my free pass boyfriend," Lauren Bauler explained, and it helped explain what happened next.

Because at exactly noon, Conley walked in the door for his 11th annual Mike Conley Bowl 'N Bash to benefit the Methodist Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center. And a few minutes after that, Bauler stood there smiling for the picture she so badly wanted with Conley, a picture that momentarily made her forget how sad she is that Conley no longer plays for Memphis.

"I feel like a giggly schoolgirl," Bauler said clutching her phone.

Saturday was a reminder that what happened here in Memphis is so rare in today's NBA, and those bonds don't just vanish because of a trade. Conley spent 12 seasons with the Grizzlies, more than a third of his life, and so "this is still home," the 31-year-old said. "It's all I know."

Still, he arrived in Memphis for the first time since being traded to the Utah Jazz in June, and even the flight Thursday night felt strange.

He went to the house he still owns here, where half the furniture has already been moved to Utah and thought, “this doesn’t even feel like my home anymore.”

It occurred to him this Bowl 'N Bash wouldn’t be a kick-off to the Grizzlies’ season, with teammates and coaches bowling for a good cause, like every other year.

It all just “feels weird,” Conley conceded.

“It’s very bizarre to not say Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies,” said Grizzlies radio play-by-play announcer and event emcee Eric Hasseltine.

In some ways, they’re right.

Thinking about Conley wearing a Utah Jazz jersey next year, instead of the No. 11 Grizzlies jersey so many wore at this bowling alley, is still weird and bizarre.

But what's become obvious is that if Conley had to leave Memphis, it couldn’t have worked out much better for either side. Because everything changed, but nothing really changed.

Conley is on an NBA title contender again, just as he wanted. The Grizzlies get to reboot around Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. Grizzlies fans, meanwhile, still love Conley and he loves them back.

This isn’t Kevin Durant leaving Oklahoma City, or Kawhi Leonard demanding a trade out of San Antonio, or LeBron James departing Cleveland the first time.

“This is about as good as it gets,” said Mike Conley Sr., who is also his son’s agent. “We knew from the beginning it had to be good for Memphis also and sometimes it’s hard to see a win-win situation. But I think this is one of them.”

It’s the scenario everyone hoped for as last season went south for the Grizzlies, when the last gasp of the Core Four era didn't work. Marc Gasol and Conley got what they wanted and Memphis got the draft picks and assets it needed to set out on a new course.

Everyone (mostly) avoided any awkwardness.

“Not a lot of players get that connection with the team or the organization. Like I really did care about how the team would fare after I left if I got traded, who they got in the trade,” Conley said. “It was almost like I was negotiating the deal for them, like make sure you get this, that and the other because you want to have more picks or more people, and I’m just thrilled to see the guys they got.

"They got a heck of a future in front of them because of the trades they were able to make for Marc, or myself, or Chandler (Parsons), and just really turned it over well.”

Saturday just underscored, if there was any doubt, Conley will forever be linked with Memphis. Friends from all over the city showed up because "we viewed it as a goodbye to everybody,” said Conley’s cousin, Eddie Blake.

Even Grizzlies president Jason Wexler, one of the front office members responsible for trading Conley, was there and received a warm embrace from Conley and his father.

This event was in the works before Conley got dealt, but not before there was uncertainty about his future in Memphis. He still wanted to do it.

It’s a charitable endeavor near and dear to Conley because two of his cousins are living with sickle cell disease. Over 11 years, the Mike Conley Bowl ‘N Bash raised more than $1 million.

On April 11, the day when the Grizzlies fired former General Manager Chris Wallace and former coach J.B. Bickerstaff, the same day Conley subtly made it clear he wanted to be elsewhere this season and tweeted, “No words” in response to the front office’s abrupt decision, he also donated $500,000 to the Methodist Comprehensive Sickle Center, which was renamed the Mike and Mary Conley Comprehensive Sickle Center.

His family's name isn’t leaving that building, even if he’s leaving Memphis.

Methodist officials assume this is going to be the last Bowl 'N Bash, but "it’s a lifelong partnership and friendship,” Methodist Healthcare Foundation interim president Zach Pretzer said.

The same goes for Memphis, a point Conley emphasized at a dinner Friday night with friends and sponsors.

They were talking about his decision to switch to No. 10 with the Jazz, instead of wearing the No. 11 he had throughout his Grizzlies career.

That number, like Conley, ultimately belongs to Memphis.

"If I ever play (for) Memphis again, that’s the number I’ll wear," said Conley, whose first game in Memphis with the Jazz will be Nov. 15. "I’m not wearing it anywhere else."

And if he ever plays for the Grizzlies again, it won't feel weird at all.

You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto