It's not even training camp and the Rockets already have a Jabari Smith Jr. problem

As the Houston Rockets enter the 2025-26 NBA season, their offseason acquisition of Kevin Durant will carry a number of serious implications for the way in which the coaching staff will need to go about constructing the team's rotation.

Yet, the most pressing of these issues lies in determining the fifth starter spot, and, given young forward Jabari Smith Jr.'s value to the organization, a difficult path lies ahead in deciding between him and the other potential candidates.

All of Tari Eason, Dorian Finney-Smith and Steven Adams each have their own case to crack the starting lineup, but demoting Smith, who started every game for Houston until his injury last season, cannot be a decision they take lightly.

Should Jabari Smith Jr. get the final starting spot?

As the season creeps closer, four of the Rockets' starters have already been determined. Alperen Sengun and Freed VanVleet will remain in their normal roles, while Durant will likely slide into the small forward position and Amen Thompson will slide back to the two-guard role.

Therefore, this leaves a gap in the frontcourt, specifically at power forward in this hypothetical lineup, that must be maximized in order to get the most out of a Durant-led offense.

Smith, who started all of his first 155 games with the organization, is the easiest choice to take on this role given his rebounding and defensive skillset and how it could complement the relative offensive bent of the rest of the starting lineup.

However, last season, when Smith returned from a hand injury that sidelined him for a stretch of games, the team instead decided to stick with Thompson in the starting lineup, allowing Smith to come off the bench through the end of the regular season and into the team's playoff run.

In one sense, Smith is already locked in long-term, and a, perhaps temporary, change in his role should not matter. After this season, he will enter a five-year, $122 million rookie extension. While this seems rather large for a player of his skill-set, by the end of his contract this will represent a relatively smaller percentage of the cap, meaning the team is not forced to start him in order to retrieve their value.

On the other hand, however, benching Smith likely means sacrificing significant size in the starting lineup and further compromising on the identity the team built over the past few seasons prior to the Durant trade.

Therefore, the question of starting or not starting Smith carries much more than just implications for the young forward's development. It will ultimately serve as an indication of the style of basketball that Houston wants to play this season: a gamble that their championship hopes likely will hinge on.