Jae’Sean Tate Still Providing Value for the Rockets Despite Smaller Role

Jae'Sean Tate continues to show why players like him who can step in after not playing for several games are so important to the Rockets success this season.

Nov 30, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Houston Rockets forward Jae'Sean Tate (8) moves the ball against Utah Jazz guard Ace Bailey (19) during the second half at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Coming into a season in which Houston added players like Kevin Durant, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Josh Okogie, Jae' Sean Tate knew playing time would be hard to come by for most of the season.

The new additions, along with Tate dealing with an injury to start the season, factored into Tate playing in only 10 of the 17 games coming into tonight's games, and even in those games, it was mainly garbage-time minutes.

Quite the contrast to Tate's first season with the team. Tate did it the hard way, going undrafted, bouncing around to different leagues before making his NBA debut in 2020. That was the infamous 2020-21 season that saw the Rockets trade away franchise player James Harden. That season, Tate played in 70 games, starting 58 of them.

That means Tate has the longest tenure on the Rockets team, as he has been through the rebuilding years and is now part of a legitimate championship contender. Tate played in a career-high 78 games the following season and started 77 of them. That would be the high-water mark for Tate, as his games played began to drop as the team went from rebuilding to a more competitive team.

Tate played in only 52 games last season, as the Rockets had their best season since 2019-20. Tate is currently playing the fewest minutes per game this season, but in Monday's loss to the Jazz, he showed he can still provide value to this year's Rockets team.

The Rockets were coming off a dominant win over the Utah Jazz Sunday and headed into their second game in a row vs the Jazz and their first back-to-back of the season. The Jazz didn't forget the beating they took Sunday and came out determine to be more physical and take it to the Rockets early and often. In fact they were up by 22 points at one point in the second half and seem to be running away with the game.

That is when Tate entered the game and made an immediate impact with his trademark hustle and physical play. Tate's five offensive rebounds helped the Rockets cut the 22-point deficit down to one point in the fourth quarter before the Jazz took back control of the game and held off the Rockets for the win.

Tate finished with six points, five rebounds, and two steals in only 13 minutes of play. Tate, just like Aaron Holiday, shows why it is so important to have players who won't complain and are always ready to step in, even if they haven't seen the floor for weeks at a time. Tate is that type of player, and that is why he is still vital to the Rockets' success this season.