Derrick Favors Likely to Play in Tonight’s Home Opener

The Utah Jazz should expect a significant lift in tonight’s home opener as recent reports indicate that Derrick Favors is now likely to play.

Great news, Jazz fans! Recent reports indicate that Utah Jazz power forward Derrick Favors will indeed be active and expects to make his 2016-17 debut tonight in the home opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.

As if the home opener alone wasn’t exciting enough, combine that with tonight’s “Blue Out” and now this excellent news that Faves will be back in action and all indications are that Jazz fans are in for a real treat tonight!

Favors, who averaged 16.4 points and 8.1 rebounds last season, looked phenomenal in the Jazz’s preseason opener prior to being sidelined with an IT band injury. If that small glimpse is any indication of the kind of performances we’re in for this season, then Favors’ return should provide an enormous lift for the Jazz.

While it’s still not an absolute guarantee that he’ll play, according to Jody Genessy of Deseret News, Favors did participate in shootaround this morning and his official medical status was elevated to “expected to play.”

These are clear signs for optimism, and while Favors will likely log limited minutes, his impact will most certainly be felt. On the defensive end, he can hopefully provide better help defense on the perimeter than Rudy Gobert was able to in Utah’s defeat to Portland while also serving as a formidable rim protector. And as always on offense, expect him to be a superb pick-and-roll threat.

Assuming Favors gets the nod as a starter (which he very well may not if he’s on a minutes restriction), this will allow Boris Diaw to come off the bench and improve the cohesion of a second unit that struggled mightily in the season opener.

And while Utah was favored to win regardless of whether Favors played or not, his return will be critical for containing the likes of the Lakers’ Julius Randle and Timofey Mozgov.

Both were solid in the Lakers’ season opener as Randle finished with 18 points and seven rebounds on an extremely efficient 9-of-11 from the field, while Mozgov added 12 points and eight rebounds of his own.

With Favors’ likely return, that leaves just Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks still on the mend. If all goes well, Hayward should be back in about three weeks, while Burks timetable remains unclear.

Until then, Utah will need to rely heavily on Favors along with the rest of the squad who performed well in the season debut to help keep the team afloat until they’re back to full strength. With such a grueling schedule ahead, games such as tonight’s very winnable match-up against a young Lakers team become all the more important.

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Coming away with the W is undoubtedly the expected outcome and Favors’ probable return will only help make it all the more likely. Be sure to tune in tonight to Root Sports or League Pass at 7PM MT as the Jazz look to set the tone for the year on their home court against the visiting Los Angeles Lakers.

Between the Blue Out, a new court and Favors’ return, there’s no excuse to sit this one out.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com