One Area Jabari Smith Excelled in This Season, and One Area He Struggled

The Houston Rockets, despite trading for a 36-year-old at the time, Kevin Durant, were still one of the youngest teams in the NBA in 2025-26. Even though the Rockets had to trade a 22-year-old Jalen Green, they still have the majority of young players in their rotation.

That will usually be the case when you drafted seven top 20 picks from 2021 to 2025. The Rockets' starting lineup had four of its five players who were 23 or younger. The starting lineup was even younger for most of the playoffs as Kevin Durant missed all but one game in the Rockets' 4-2 first-round loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

When it comes to the young core, most of the attention has been around Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson. Sengun is the only player in the young core who has made the All-Star team twice, and Thompson has already made an All-Defensive team in only his second season.

One player who hasn't been mentioned as much is Jabari Smith. Smith was the Rockets' third overall pick in the 2022 draft, after Paolo Banchero and Chet Holmgren, which is another reason his name isn't discussed as much.

Banchero is already an All-Star leading the Orlando Magic, and Holmgren has already won an NBA Title as one of the core pieces on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Smith has been steady in his first four seasons. Not spectacular, but a steady contributor for the Rockets and has gotten better each season.

Smith is coming off the best season of his career in 2025-26 and showed improvement in several areas. However, like the other members of the Rockets' young core, he has room for improvement.

In the second part of my series, I examine Smith’s season, focusing on one area where each player in the young core excelled and one area that still needs improvement.

One Area Where Jabari Smith Improved and One Area That Still Needs Work

As mentioned earlier, Smith had the best season of his career, finishing with a career-high 15 points and a career-high 8 minutes. field goal percentage and tied for a career high in 3-point percentage on a career high in attempts per game.

One of the reasons for Smith's improvement, of course, was the addition of Kevin Durant.
Durant made everyone's life easier on offense, but it was also Smith's aggressiveness on the offensive end. In the past, Smith was usually buried in the corner or at the top of the key, but this season, he took it upon himself to be more aggressive on defenders closing out on him when teams are double-teaming Sengun or Durant.

Smith not settling for 3-pointers has helped him get to the mid-range more often this season, where he can shoot over almost every defender in the NBA. His improved mid-range game and aggressiveness played a big part in his career-high points per game.

Even with the improvement, Smith still struggles at times with beating players off the dribble when they are not scrambling from a double team. Smith sometimes struggles when a defender applies pressure and forces him to go to a secondary move.

Smith himself has said that he has to improve his ball handling because it will open up his entire offensive game. As comfortable as he is when he can get to the mid-range, it isn't always easy for him to get to his spots on the court.

For Smith to go from good role player to borderline All-Star, he has to become a better ball handler, which will keep defenders honest and prevent them from closing out as hard on him when challenging his jumpshot.

The 2026-27 season will be Smith’s fifth season in the NBA, and he has had steady improvement throughout his career. His improved offensive game is a good sign going forward, and if he can continue to improve his handles, he may one day be mentioned in the same breath as the two players drafted ahead of him four years ago.

Add us as a preferred source on Google