One of George Hill and Derrick Favors seems like they are going to get an extension from the Utah Jazz before this season is over.
And it’s probably going to be Hill, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein:
The Utah Jazz currently possess more than $13 million in cap space, which makes them even more interesting to watch than they already are when they play.
Reason being: Utah’s cap space can be used to make a robust in-season extension offer to either point guard George Hill or big man Derrick Favors.
And …
According to the latest rumbles in circulation on the matter, Hill has emerged as Utah’s priority here.
Utah’s order of priorities here isn’t really shot at Favors. Rather, it’s about Hill, and how valuable he has become to their immediate future.
The Jazz’s offense craters whenever Hill is off the court, according to NBA.com. Dante Exum isn’t ready to run the offense full-time, Shelvin Mack isn’t the answer and Gordon Hayward is still working off the rust (and could end up leaving in free agency). So Hill has become a necessity. And there’s a better chance the Jazz get him at a discount now, when he’s dealing with a thumb injury and not fielding offers from a slew of other teams amid another salary-cap pop.
As for Favors, he’s battling knee issues, so offering him a huge raise at this point would be a big risk. Besides, he has another year left on his deal and isn’t an immediate flight risk. The Jazz won’t be able to extend him after this season, since they’ll likely be capped out, but they will still own his Bird rights when he reaches the open market in 2018—which is expected to mean more than ever under the NBA’s new CBA.
And who knows, by 2018, the Jazz and Favors may have outgrown each other. Trey Lyles projects as the more modern-day 4, Favors is probably best suited at center, where Rudy Gobert plays, and Utah will have to worry about lucrative new deals for Rodney Hood and Exum—not to mention, by that point, a possible extension for Lyles.
