Rumors

Jabari Smith is fresh off signing a five-year, $122 million rookie-scale contract extension with the Rockets that is fully guaranteed through the 2030-31 season. “It feels great to just know that you’re committed to the city where you want to be. I want to be here for the rest of my career,” Smith told the Chronicle on Friday. “So I’m glad that this is a good start to it, and I’m ready to build something.”

Houston Chronicle

Adam Wexler: #Rockets announce they have signed Jabari Smith Jr. to a contract extension and have re-signed Jeff Green, Aaron Holiday, Jae’Sean Tate & Fred VanVleet.

x.com

"What was that shift like though, man, from getting coached? Was it that Ime Udoka? That's how you pronounce it? Yeah. How—what was that shift like?" Jabari Smith: "Anybody who knows Ime knows that he’s got some missing screws. You know what I’m saying? I don’t know how to put this, but he’s gonna coach you hard. You know what I’m saying? As you see, like, he’s made the team play hard. Like, everybody knows we’re gonna play hard, and that’s just who he is. And he’s good to talk to—just a players’ coach, honestly. You can talk to him. Obviously, somebody who played in the league, he can relate to his players. So I mean, he helped me a lot. He obviously helped the team, helped the organization a lot. So I mean, things are looking up, man."

YouTube

Jabari Smith Jr: "Yeah, Silas was our first coach. He was a good coach. But like I said, man, couldn’t nobody control that. It was just a wreck. You know what I’m saying? And if anybody knows Coach Silas, like, he’s the nicest dude in the world. He knows basketball. He knows what he’s talking about. It’s just, as far as controlling that—it was tough for him. But Ime came in, and Fred and Dillon came in and put some control on it."

YouTube

Jabari Smith Jr.: "Only thing I remember eating was McDonald's, ‘cause everything else was a little different, you know what I'm saying? I wasn't gonna hit the little Panda Express back then. I was just sticking with the McDonald’s. This was my second time having a chance to go on a tour of China. The second time, I had to try more. I did it with my shoe company—361. I had to try pretty much—not all their cuisines—but just their type of cultural food. And it wasn’t that bad. It really wasn’t." KCP: "Man, I wish I could. Hey, you got to have a palate for it, because it’s some sh*t, like—I'ma tell you, man, they bringing out full birdies. You know what I'm saying?" Jabari Smith Jr.: "No, but it tasted just like chicken, you know what I'm saying? It wasn't that bad. I played over there for three months, and it definitely didn’t pass the eye test. The food didn’t. But I tried it though. McDonald’s was closed—I wanted to go—but them folks closed at 10:00. It was about 10:30. I'm like, 'Hold on, I got to go get me some real Chinese food.' Get you some good noodles, rice. They got the orange chicken over there—you can kind of stick with that. But getting deeper into their culture, it wasn’t that bad. I actually tried pretty much all the bird. On a plate, with their wings like that—I can’t eat that sh*t, bro. I'm talking about feathers still on."

YouTube

Jabari Smith, at $24.4 million, would have been the highest paid NBA player as late as the 2007-08 season. Stephen Curry was the NBA’s highest paid player during the 2019-20 season and the first to crack the $40 million threshold; that would make him just the 29th-highest paid player next season. The NBA will have 16 players earn at least $50 million during the 2025-26 season; the NFL, MLB and NHL will have six between them.

New York Times

Shams Charania: Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. intends to sign a five-year, $122 million rookie contract extension, sources tell ESPN. Rockets officials and Smith's agent, Wallace Prather of LIFT Sports Management, negotiated the fully guaranteed deal through 2030-31 season.

Twitter

Two factors proved decisive in the Rockets' change of direction. First was Udoka's strong advocacy for the move. Second was the surprisingly reasonable asking price. "Another thing was they also couldn't say no to the price. The price was just so low they just couldn't say no. It's meant to say look what they still have on their roster. So they now have optionality. They can say 'let's keep letting Amen Thompson develop. Let's keep letting Jabari Smith. By the way, they love Tari Eason there. He can be the guy that replaces Dillon Brooks as that key defender.

RealGM

Over multiple weeks of discussions with Phoenix, with Rockets general manager Rafael Stone leading the talks, Houston maintained a firm stance in its refusal to include young players like Reed Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason, team sources told The Athletic. The Rockets refused to give up the Suns’ 2027 and 2029 first-round selections as well, no matter how motivated the Suns were to recoup those prized picks (they sent them to Brooklyn in the February 2023 Durant deal, and the Rockets landed them in a June 2024 deal with the Nets).

New York Times

The Suns' conversations focused on the Rockets and Heat in recent days, but both teams showed an unwillingness to part with young cornerstones such as Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard (Houston) and Kel'el Ware (Miami) in a Kevin Durant deal, sources said.

ESPN

Eastern Conference scout No. 1 on Dylan Harper: I don’t think he has a real high ceiling, but I think he’ll play, and play for a long time. College assistant coach No. 2 (his team played Rutgers): Very talented, can go both ways, right, left. Prefers left. Obviously, the bloodlines are there. Is he a one or a two? College head coach No. 1 (his team played Rutgers): He’s as good as anyone we’ve played against, including Markelle Fultz and Jabari Smith. He’s not as good as Cunningham or Anthony Edwards, who we also played. Really good reads out of pick-and-rolls for his age.

New York Times

At one point, team sources say, Phoenix was determined to regain control of its draft capital (first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and swap rights in 2029) and at another, was seeking multiple young talents like Alperen Şengün and Jalen Green. Recently, forward Jabari Smith Jr.’s name has come up pertaining to the Suns’ interest, team and league sources say. Green, whose name has been connected to Durant and other stars in trade rumors, is determined to improve upon his playoff struggles and wants to stay in Houston, league sources say. But the Rockets have largely been uninterested in breaking up their depth, even for a future Hall of Famer. There’s also the question of his age and injury history — juxtaposed with the timeline of Houston’s young core — and the tradeoff that comes with championship-chasing and development.

New York Times

Houston’s brass will continue to speak with representation for both Tari Eason and Jabari Smith Jr., both of whom are extension-eligible this summer. According to team sources, they are comfortable matching any offer that would come for either in restricted free agency in 2026, assuming that a deal isn’t agreed upon this offseason. Eason and Smith have been key cogs in Udoka’s setup, with a two-way, unselfish approach that meshes well with the roster.

New York Times

Houston has optionality, this trade can be structured in many different ways. Houston would be open to trading Alperen Sengun, league sources told NBC Sports, but the Bucks may be higher on a Jalen Green-based trade (depending on how they rate Green). Jabari Smith Jr. is likely part of any deal, and the Rockets have a lot of future first-round picks — their own and others, such as Brooklyn and Phoenix picks — that could be part of the trade. It likely takes a third team to make the math work, but it’s very doable.

NBC Sports