Jabari Smith Jr. signs five-year, $122 million extension with Rockets

Jabari Smith Jr. signs five-year, $122 million extension with Rockets

The Houston Rockets have signed Jabari Smith Jr. to a five-year, $122 million extension, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported Sunday.

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. pic.twitter.com/S1hb9n0PRh

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2025

Last season, Smith, 22, averaged 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds on 43.8 percent shooting, including 35.4 percent from 3-point range and 82.5 percent from the free-throw line. Even though he’s still had trouble self-creating (which was an issue in college), the former No. 3 overall pick has shown flashes as a 3-and-D wing who can impact a rotation.

As a result of the 6-foot-10 forward signing an extension this offseason, it won’t kick in until 2026-27. According to Spotrac, his cap hits will be $21.0M, $22.7M, $24.4M, $26.1M and $27.8M, respectively.

That number did seem hefty (to me) at first, but his deal won’t be allocated for more than 12.8 percent of the cap in each of his next six seasons. That’s a perfectly reasonable price point for Smith. If he breaks out, that’ll continue to look like a bargain; if not, it’ll still be movable. This deal makes some sense for both sides.

He is one of five players signed beyond 2026-27, including Alperen Sengun, Steven Adams and Reed Sheppard. We’ll see if they extend newly-acquired Kevin Durant for two additional seasons, which carries inherent risk. We’ll see what deals look like for Aaron Holiday, Jae’Sean Tate and Jeff Green if they decide to bring all of them back, which appears to be the case.

I’m not comfortable that Smith’s role remains the same with Durant in the fold, but I think he can still be an impact rotation player off Houston’s bench. What do you think about his new extension? Let us now in the comments!

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