Rockets have a great harvest! 5-year contract renewal! The future is promising

Houston Rockets forward Jabbarry Smith Jr. intends to sign a five-year, $122 million contract extension, according to sources to ESPN.

Rockets official and Smith's agent, Wallace Plather of LIFT Sports Management, negotiated a comprehensive guaranteed contract that will last through the 2030-31 season. The Rockets are very confident in Smith, who is the third pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, and the two sides quickly reached an agreement during the offseason.

Smith is part of the Rockets' young core, which has grown into a force over the past season, helping Houston become the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and debuted in the playoffs for the first time in five years.

22-year-old Smith averaged 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds in mid-game midfielder in January when he was interrupted by a left-hand fracture. Smith has been having trouble finding consistency on three-pointers, but in the playoffs he showed his potential by reducing his shooting performance by 45.5% from long distances.

According to ESPN Research, he is the only player in his NBA career to date to have accumulated 2,500 points and 1,500 rebounds in the 2022 draft.

The deal is the latest deal in Houston's busy early offseason, with the most notable of the big deal by Kevin Durant. Sources said that when the Rockets negotiated the Durant deal, the team kept rejecting the Suns' requests, including Smith, making it clear that Smith is part of Houston's long-term core. The Rockets also agreed to renew Fred VanVleet, Jayson Tart, Aaron Holliday and Jeff Green, and extended the contracts between Steven Adams and head coach Ime Udokka over the past two weeks.