Jabari Smith returns, eases in off bench

Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith made his return to the court on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, marking his first appearance since suffering a fractured hand on January 1. The game also served as Houston’s first contest following the All-Star break.

Smith, who was selected third overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, had previously started in all 188 regular-season games of his professional career. However, he came off the bench for the first time in Friday’s matchup.

As reported by Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle, head coach Ime Udoka explained that multiple factors influenced the decision.

Udoka wanted to capitalize on having Tari Eason available for the first leg of a back-to-back series while also easing Smith back into game action after an extended absence of more than seven weeks.

“Tari (is) coming off some really good games and getting him to the minutes where we want him to be,” Udoka said. “But it was just a little bit everything.

“I think easing (Smith) back into it a little bit, not really conditioning-wise, but you see how he looks in this game and everything’s kind of open moving forward.”