Derrick Favors Training for NBA Return

After being dealt to the Houston Rockets prior to the start of 2022-23, Derrick Favors remains without an NBA job but that isn't slowing the big man down.

Prior to last season, in 2021, in a move to acquire another first-round pick, the Oklahoma City Thunder swapped some cash and a 2027 second-round pick for Utah Jazz’s Derrick Favors. The 30-year-old center would go on to play just 653 minutes for the Thunder before being dealt this past off-season.

Back in September, General Manager Sam Presti pulled the trigger on a trade designed to tidy up the franchise’s books. Oklahoma City would send Favors, along with three other Thunder players, to the Houston Rockets for Marquese Chriss, Sterling Brown, David Nwaba, and Trey Burke.

Every player in that transaction would end up being waived, including Favors who would be waived just 17 days after joining the Rockets.

Since then, everything has been quiet for the once-steady rotation player. Favors is still sitting on the waiver wire as a free agent, waiting on an opportunity to show he can still contribute.

On his Instagram page, Favors is promoting videos of himself working out on the same campus where he played college ball: Georgia Tech.

Just two weeks ago, he posted footage of himself getting up some shots with a caption that read, “Embrace adversity and keep good faith,” perhaps referring to the difficulties of being an aging center trying to work his way back into a league that is experiencing a youth movement and a shift in paradigm regarding his position.

Whether or not his training will pay off and lead to another NBA gig remains to be seen.

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