NBA Trade Deadline portfolio 2018: Derrick Favors

Ever since Rudy Gobert broke out as a superstar center, Derrick Favors’ time in Utah has been dwindling. Now that his contract is expiring at the end of this season, trade rumors surrounding Favors have hit a fever pitch once again. There’s a strong sense around Salt Lake City that he won’t re-sign with the Jazz this offseason, since he’d have to play out of position as a power forward with Gobert or as the team’s backup center. Favors will have interest on the market, but the gap between potential buyers and the Jazz may keep him on the team through the Feb. 8 trade deadline.

When healthy, Favors is a proven force on both ends of the floor. He’s suffered from a litany of injuries over the last two years, but with all of that behind him, he’s put together the most efficient season of his career and any dip in his individual defensive numbers can be attributed to the time he’s playing with Gobert on the floor — he’s not going to be as involved around the rim when playing power forward.

The jump shot is evolving; he’s shooting a career-high on long mid-range jumpers and while the 3-pointer isn’t there yet, there are signs that he would be able to add that into his game on a team that asked him to space the floor a bit more offensively. His play inside is back to where it was pre-injuries, when he was one of the NBA’s best in the restricted area. Favors is back up to 72 percent at the rim, in line with his performance from 2013-2016.

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Historically, the Jazz have been better with Favors at the power forward position because of his and Gobert’s defensive aptitude. They’ve consistently stifled teams with those two on the floor and that trend has continued this year to the tune of a 101.2 defensive rating. The numbers aren’t as rosy for Favors when he’s the lone center, though the offensive uptick is noteworthy. Any team acquiring him would harness his positional versatility and acumen on both ends of the floor to get the most out of him.

In Favors’ case, the most important thing is bridging the gap between what Utah wants and what teams are willing to give up. Despite his rumored unhappiness with the Jazz, Utah doesn’t seem to view him as dead weight on their books, especially since he’s going to be a free agent on July 1. Still, they’d like to get some value for him before he walks away in a few months and the closer the deadline gets, the price it takes to pry Favors from the Jazz gets lower.

For teams negotiating with Utah, it’s important to understand their willingness to take on future money, much in the way that Chicago took on Omer Asik’s contract and a first-round pick in exchange for Nikola Mirotic this year. If Utah’s front office is willing to take on money past 2018 in addition to a first-round pick in a deal including Favors, then they’ll find a host of suitors with contracts to dump on Utah’s books. If the Jazz are unwilling to take on future money, then they have to find another expiring contract to deal for Favors, a far more difficult task.

Losing Favors (or another expiring contract) for nothing in free agency isn’t the worst thing in the world for Utah, as it would open a ton of cap space for them to use, depending on what they decide to do with Dante Exum and Rodney Hood. The Jazz can carve open as much as $31.8 million in space this summer, though doing so would gut eight players from their current roster. The other side of that same coin: what would the Jazz do in free agency even if they opened max space? They’re far from a major market and have never drawn high-end players in the past. It’s far more likely that Utah will operate over the cap this summer, whether Favors returns or not, making it more imperative for them to get some value for him at the deadline.

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Three key partners should emerge for Utah: Cleveland, Milwaukee, and New Orleans. All three need a center desperately for runs to the playoffs and have some future salary they’d like to dump to the Jazz. Rumors are swirling around the Cavaliers and their preference to get rid of Tristan Thompson’s contract — Favors could be a direct replacement for Thompson’s production and the two are close enough in salary for Utah to take on the extra $4.4 million this season to get the deal done. Throw in Cleveland’s first-round pick this year and a future second and the Jazz may take that offer.

Milwaukee is in the same boat; they’ve been in the market for a center since the beginning of the season, when they traded Greg Monroe to Phoenix for Eric Bledsoe. New Orleans is another team who could use Favors, especially as a rental after DeMarcus Cousins went down with an Achilles injury. They just traded their worst contract and a first-round pick to acquire Mirotic, but they still have Alexis Ajinca to trade to Utah in a deal for Favors. Because their first-round pick going to Chicago is protected through 2022, they might have trouble working the protections with Utah to make a trade work, but the framework is there for a trade between the two.