JABARI Smith Jr.

Smith appeared in 77 games last season for Houston, averaging 35.1 minutes, 15.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.9 blocks. He shot 44.9 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from three and 77.5 percent from the line, with a true shooting mark of 56.9 percent. His usage rate sat at 17.9 percent, and he turned the ball over just 1.4 times a game. Houston was plus-3.4 with him on the floor. That workload — heavy minutes, efficient shooting from deep for a big forward, low turnovers — made him a steady piece of the rotation all year. Those are last season's numbers, not this year's, but they're the baseline Houston will look to build on as Smith enters his fourth season out of Auburn.

Smith's last extended run of game action before this season came in the playoffs. On April 10, in a loss to Minnesota, he played 39.6 minutes and scored 16 points with 6 rebounds and 2 assists. He then played six straight games against the Lakers from April 18 through May 1, logging between 39.1 and 43.7 minutes a night. He scored 16, 18, 24, 16, 22 and 9 points across those six games, with rebounding totals of 6, 6, 6, 8, 7 and 12. His best scoring night was 24 points on April 24, and his best plus-minus of the stretch was +24 on April 26, a win. The run closed with a 9-point, 12-rebound effort in a May 1 loss. It was a heavy workload for the 23-year-old forward, night after night deep into the spring.

Smith is not on Houston's injury report right now, and there's no injury history listed for him. He's played in all three Rockets games to open the season. At 6-foot-11 and 231 pounds, he's built to carry a full workload, and his minutes have varied game to game — 21.9 against Dallas on Oct. 9, 28.3 against Dallas on Oct. 11, and 18.6 against Oklahoma City on Oct. 15. None of those swings are tied to any injury note. For a frontcourt player who logged 35.1 minutes a game last season across 77 appearances, a clean injury report in October is a good sign heading into a long season.

Smith is in his fourth NBA season, all of them with Houston, after playing at Auburn. He wears No. 10, stands 6-foot-11 and weighs 231 pounds, and lines up at forward for the Rockets. He's 23 years old. Last season he carried a heavy workload — 35.1 minutes a game across 77 appearances — as a frontcourt piece who can shoot it from outside, hitting 36.3 percent from three on top of solid rebounding and defense. He's not on the injury report entering this season, and he's already played all three of Houston's games to open 2026-27. That mix of size, outside shooting and a clean health record makes him one of the steadier pieces in the Rockets' frontcourt as the new season gets going.

Smith himself isn't part of any reported rumor right now, but the rest of the division is making news. A Dallas Mavericks notebook from Eddie Sefko on Oct. 11 mentioned Irving, Flagg, De Larrea and Powell — all Mavericks names, with no connection to Smith or the Rockets. Houston, which has already split a pair of games with Dallas this month, will keep an eye on what that notebook turns into. For now, though, the story in Houston is on the floor, not in the rumor mill: a healthy Smith, a 2-1 start across his first three games, and a frontcourt piece the Rockets can count on being available every night.