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Derrick Favors Reportedly Agrees on 2-Year Contract to Re-Sign with Jazz
July 2, 2018
The Utah Jazz and big man Derrick Favors have reportedly agreed to a two-year contract, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports added that the deal is worth more than $36 million, while Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune reported the second year of the contract is non-guaranteed.
Favors, 26, spent seven-and-a-half of his first eight seasons with the Utah Jazz. He averaged 12.3 points and 7.2 rebounds in 2017-18, starting 77 games.
Despite some spacing issues, the Jazz had success pairing Favors and Rudy Gobert last season. A year ago, it looked like there was no way he would return when his contract expired. But as the Jazz soared into a surprise second-round appearance in the playoffs, Favors seemed more open to the possibility.
"I know that anything can happen," Favors said, per Jones. "I want to be here. But I also know that it’s a business, so when the time comes, both sides are going to have to make business decisions. What I have to do is focus on what I can control. I want to help this team win games. I want to help this team go far in the playoffs."
Favors played the final season of a team-friendly, four-year, $46.95 million contract in 2017-18. He missed 20-plus games each of the previous two seasons. Given his reliance on athleticism for effectiveness, these lingering knee problems have to be a concern.
Favors is still young enough that his next contract will only carry him to the end of his prime, so he should be fine from a skills standpoint.
Still, there's a reasonable question about where he fits in the current NBA. Favors doesn't really shoot all that well yet, though he's become more comfortable away from the basket. Much like a lot of big men, he's been tepidly dipping his toes into the three-pointer. It hasn't gone well. Favors shot just 22.2 percent on his 63 attempts in 2017-18.