Peyton Watson is exposing harsh Jabari Smith Jr. reality that's getting worse

This was supposed to the season Jabari Smith Jr. took a big leap with the Houston Rockets. Instead, it's Peyton Watson in Denver that's unlocking his two-way potential and having exactly the kind of campaign that Rockets fans had hoped to see from Smith.

With Nikola Jokic out of the lineup for the Nuggets, Watson has seen increased opportunity in the last couple of weeks, and he's made the most of his chance. This past week, he took home Western Conference player of the week honors.

Meanwhile, Smith has continued to struggle. In his most recent game on Sunday night, Jabari scored just nine points and grabbed just seven rebounds in 33 minutes as Houston fell to the Sacramento Kings. For the month of January, he's averaging only 11.0 points while shooting 30.1% from the floor and 17.1% from three-point range.

This creates the kind of contrast that really makes a statement. Watson is fully unlocking his two-way potential with more reps, while Jabari just can't seem to put it together. And really, this season was supposed to be the ideal conditions for him to take a step up.

Jabari Smith has not lived up to his potential like Peyton Watson has

On the one hand, you could say that playing alongside Kevin Durant would give you less touches. And while that may be true, KD's presence is also perhaps the greatest floor-spacing cheat code in the game today. If you can't produce with the extra space provided by Durant's gravity, that becomes pretty hard to justify.

Houston has built a relatively forgiving environment for young players. Ime Udoka has a strong system in place, and the Rockets aren’t asking Jabari to carry anything close to a star-level load. They just need him to make shots and affect the game in small but meaningful ways. Too often, that hasn’t happened.

What makes it tougher is where the Rockets are as a team. This is a squad expected to contend here and now, and there's less of a developmental runway than before. The Rockets are trying to see who actually fits long-term as a part of their core. When opportunities come and go without progress, it's understandable when patience starts to wear thin.

None of this means Jabari’s story is finished. He’s still young and capable of putting things together, but the gap between where he is and where he was supposed to be is getting harder to ignore. Peyton Watson is showing what happens when you truly seize the moment, and the Rockets are still waiting on that same response from Smith.