Tari Eason could be in for a shocking new role with the Rockets this season

As the Houston Rockets dealt Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green for superstar Kevin Durant this offseason, it quickly became clear that a serious shift was going to need to be made in their approach to their rotation.

Accordingly, head coach Ime Udoka has recently stated that the fifth starting spot is still open to be earned in training camp, and, although Jabari Smith Jr. is likely the outright favorite for the role, young forward Tari Eason could have a shot to change the outlook of the team's starting five entirely.

While the Rockets are known for wanting to play big, Eason presents a more active and agile brand of defense off the bench, and, by moving Durant to power forward and slotting Eason in at the three spot, Houston could be creating one of the most dynamic two-way line-ups in the league.

Tari Eason has a serious shot to start for the Rockets this season

As Smith and Eason have shared their first three seasons in the league together, their roles have been rather clearly defined. Apart from the time Smith spent this past season easing back from his hand injury, he has started essentially every game for the Rockets.

Eason, meanwhile, has become an electrifying piece of Houston's bench unit, only starting 21 games through his career thus far.

Yet, as Durant joins the team, their entire offensive approach will now need to conform around the gravity he presents. The four confirmed starters, as it stands, will be Durant, Fred VanVleet, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson.

It is likely that Thompson will shift to the shooting guard spot in order to make up for their lack of backcourt depth, thus leaving the remaining spot that Udoka mentioned lying squarely in the frontcourt alongside Durant.

Smith, at 6'11", provides a major boon to the team's interior defense and rebounding numbers when he starts. Putting him alongside Durant would allow the superstar scorer to slide back to the three-spot, where he might have an easier time getting to his mid-range shots and playing off of the attention Smith and Sengun will draw in the paint.

Yet, at the same time, Udoka also has a distinctly different option: to play into the more athletic direction the team has taken by starting Eason at the three-spot.

Eason, as perhaps the second-most effective defender on the team, would form a fearsome duo with Thompson in the starting lineup, and the sheer intensity of his play would help compensate for some of the slower pace the team will have to take on in order to conform to Durant. Such a move would slot Durant in at power forward: the position he has played primarily since he left Golden State.

While such a move might complicate his upcoming extension talks, it could be the right one to make in order to maximize the efficiency of the team's starting minutes.