Derrick Favors returning to Utah to make opponents miserable

The Utah Jazz keep their starting lineup together, retaining the services of Derrick Favors on a two-year deal.

Derrick Favors and the Utah Jazz are looking to run things back in 2018-19. The team and their starting power forward came a two-year deal worth $36 million on Monday. ESPN’s Marc Spears was the first to report.

The second-year of Favors’ deal is non-guaranteed, which explains the higher annual salary.

The 26-year-old averaged 12.3 points and 7.2 rebounds in 77 games for the Jazz last season. He was a huge reason the Jazz upset the Thunder in the first round of the NBA playoffs, dominating Carmelo Anthony on both ends of the court. However, his impact was lessened in the second round as the Houston Rockets were able to create mismatches out on the perimeter.

In retaining the services of Favors, the Jazz will keep their starting five together. In the regular season, the lineup of Ricky Rubio, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Favors, and Rudy Gobert had a defensive rating of 98.1 and a net rating of +9.9. So yeah, good luck scoring on those five guys.

Donovan Mitchell is certainly excited.

https://twitter.com/spidadmitchell/status/1013863397098545158

With Favors now under contract, the Jazz will look into retaining the services of Dante Exum. This deal gives them a lot of flexibility moving forward, but does tie-up short-term money.

Next: The Whiteboard: The Los Angeles Lakers are, once again, the NBA’s best show

The Jazz were a surprise team last season, making a late charge to finish fifth in the West. With their core back, they’re betting big on internal growth and smaller moves to get them back into the playoffs. Favors may have had a longer term contract out there from another team, but he’s comfortable in Utah and definitely comfortable making $17 million this season.