Houston keeps spending, reportedly agrees to five-year, $122 million contract extension with Jabari Smith Jr.

The Houston Rockets have been busy this offseason:
• Trade for Kevin Durant
• Re-sign Fred VanVleet
• Extend Steven Adams
• Work out deals to keep Jae’Sean Tate, Aaron Holiday, Jeff Green

Now they have reached a contract extension with starting forward Jabari Smith Jr. for five years, $122 million ($24.4 million a year on average), reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. This is a straight five-year contract, with no player or team options. This new contract kicks in a year from now, Smith Jr. has one year remaining on his rookie deal at $12.4 million.

Smith is part of the young Rockets’ core that broke out and won 52 games this season, reaching the No. 2 seed in the West. In 57 games last season, Smith averaged 12.2 points and 7 rebounds a game, shooting 35.4% from beyond the arc.

Smith, the No. 3 pick in the 2022 class, becomes the first player to sign a contract extension from that group. Three players from that class — Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams — are expected to sign max (or near max) extensions. Other names to watch include the Kings’ Keegan Murray, the Pacers’ Bennedict Mathurin, the Pistons’ Jaden Ivey, the Nuggets’ Peyton Watson, the Hawks’ Dyson Daniels, the Jazz’s Walker Kessler, and the Rockets’ Tari Eason.