An official report from the Jazz reveals that Derrick Favors has undergone an MRI and been diagnosed with a bone bruise in his left knee. Per the report, the big man has struggled with soreness since returning from a similar incident in mid-December.
Favors underwent the MRI Saturday and will be held out of action and re-evaluated later in the week. The 25-year-old has played in 47 games for the Jazz this season, averaging 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
The 2016/17 campaign has been a quiet one for the seven-year veteran, despite the success of the Jazz as a team. Favors’ averages are far shy of those he set in 2015/16. In 62 games last season, Favors averaged a career high 16.4 points per game and 8.1 rebounds.
Just last month the Jazz failed to extend the big man to a longer term contract, leaving him on pace to reach unrestricted free agency in 2018. On the open market one could reasonably expect Favors to land a considerable pay raise over the $11MM he’s owed this season (and $12MM in 2017/18), even considering the decline in his production and any possible ongoing injury concern.
It’s unclear how much of Favors’ knee woes factored into Utah’s decision to opt against renegotiating the forward-center’s contract but worth nothing that his court-time has gradually increased since December to the point where it’s in line with last season.
Favors is averaging 24.1 minutes per game in 2016/17, considerably less than the 32.0 he averaged last year, but he had logged 29.5 per game in four March contests before being pulled from action.
The Jazz will update the big man’s status as new information comes in.