Fourth-year forward Tari Eason has started five games for the Rockets so far this season, including each of the past four. Houston has won all five of those contests, and William Guillory of The Athletic believes the team is reaping the benefits of Eason’s unpredictable, versatile playing style.
“He’s very unique and he impacts the game even if you don’t call plays for him all the time,” head coach Ime Udoka said. “We’re starting to add him to more things, whether he’s a (ball-)handler or a screener. He’s going crash the glass at a high level, like a lot of our guys. He’s shooting the ball extremely well, so the spacing is going to be good with him.”
As Guillory observes, the Rockets have experimented with different starters alongside Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, and Jabari Smith Jr. — Josh Okogie hasn’t always given the team enough shooting in that role, while two-big units featuring Steven Adams can be vulnerable against opponents featuring multiple play-making ball-handlers.
While lineups featuring Okogie (+9.7 net rating) or Reed Sheppard (+7.9) alongside those “core four” starters have performed better than the one with Adams (-4.3), their effectiveness pales in comparison to the remarkable +47.4 net rating that the group with Eason has put up in 51 minutes of action. The sample size is small, but Houston figures to continue deploying that starting five for now.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- After coming off the bench in his first seven games back from an adductor strain, Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has returned to the starting lineup for the past two contests and registered his first two 30-point games of the season. However, it has been of little help to the Pelicans, who have now lost five games in a row and have the NBA’s second-worst record at 8-27. “Just overall, a lack of pride in physicality on (the defensive) end of the floor,” head coach James Borrego said after his team gave up 134 points to a shorthanded Bulls team on Wednesday, per Rod Walker of NOLA.com.
- Christian Koloko‘s 10-day contract with the Grizzlies expired on Thursday after he averaged 18.6 minutes per game in five appearances, including one start, as a hardship addition. It’s unclear whether or not Memphis still qualifies for a hardship exception, which depends in part on when their injured players are projected to return. If the Grizzlies can’t re-sign Koloko to another hardship deal, he could get another 10-day contract as soon as Monday, when the standard 10-day window opens for the 2025/26 season, but that would require the team to open up a spot on its 15-man roster.
- After coming off the bench just 41 times in his 12 previous NBA seasons – primarily as a rookie – Mavericks wing Klay Thompson has had to adjust to a sixth-man role this year. Head coach Jason Kidd recently praised the 35-year-old for the way he has handled the change, per Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. “For Klay, coming off the bench he’s been great,” Kidd said. “He’s playing his role at a very high level for us. Being able to anchor that second group, being able to get shots for him and then just his voice, not just on the bench or in the locker room, but also on the floor. For our young players, he’s been great.” Thompson has averaged 11.9 PPG and made 37.1% of his three-pointers in 24 games as a reserve this season, as opposed to 8.8 PPG and 27.5% in eight starts.