Jabari Smith Jr. really does look different this year.

Jabari showed out Tuesday night as the Rockets beat the New Orleans Pelicans 130-128 to improve to 3-0 in the preseason. The Rockets close out the practice games Thursday against the Hawks before opening the regular season this coming Tuesday against the Thunder in Oklahoma City.

Jabari looked confident — he was very aggressive Tuesday night, scoring 24 of his 26 points in the first half in less than 20 minutes of play. He hit 4-10 from deep.

Ben Dubose and I discussed the game live in postgame: Jabari’s impressive showing, the big lineup getting the starting nod, Kevin Durant displaying his closer credentials and the skirmish/fight that broke out between Amen Thompson and Jose Alvarado.

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As part of the annual NBA GM survey, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann polls the top decision-makers for each of the league’s 30 teams.

Poll topics include the best teams, players, coaches, and offseason moves, with general managers not allowed to vote for their own team or personnel. Percentages are based on the pool of respondents to that particular question and not necessarily all 30 general managers.

As for the 2025-26 Houston Rockets, one consistent theme was third-year guard Amen Thompson, who featured repeatedly in the GM survey.

Here’s a rundown of where Thompson was represented:

• Player most likely to have a breakout season: Amen Thompson at No. 1 (30%)
• Best perimeter defender in NBA: Amen Thompson at No. 3 (22%)
• Most versatile defender in NBA: Amen Thompson at No. 1 (18%)
• Most athletic player in NBA: Amen Thompson at No. 1 (58%)
• Fastest NBA player with the ball: Amen Thompson received votes

The Rockets did have several other players and coaches receive votes across multiple categories, as can be viewed here. But Thompson was easily the most frequent pick.

As a team, Houston was picked to finish third in the Western Conference behind Oklahoma City and Denver, and the Rockets received at least one vote as the 2026 NBA Finals winner.

The 2025-26 NBA.com GM Survey: www.nba.com/news/2025-26…

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— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 7:23 AM

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Kevin Durant is now really a Houston Rocket.

Durant made his Houston Rockets debut on Wednesday as the Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 140-127. Durant missed his first three shots, then made his final seven en route to 20 points to lead the Rockets. Amen Thompson finished with 19 points, seven boards and six assists, Jabari Smith Jr. scored 18 on an efficient 7-11 shooting and Alperen Sengun chipped in 13 points with an impressive 13 assists (to just one turnover).

On the ClutchFans YouTube account, Ben Dubose and I discussed the impressive debut of Durant, the offensive explosion, the defensive work-in-progress, Sengun running the point and Jabari Smith Jr’s improvement.

Kevin Durant already made it clear at Houston’s Sept. 29 media day that he intends to sign a contract extension with the Rockets.

It’s simply a matter of when and how much. And we may not have to wait long to find out.

ESPN insider Shams Charania said this on Wednesday’s NBA Today television show:

The Rockets and Durant’s business manager and partner, Rich Kleiman, they’ve been in constant communication about a long-term contract extension.

He can sign a two-year extension, and I’m told there is optimism about a deal getting done before the start of the regular season.

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Now 37 years old, Durant is currently under contract for just the 2025-26 season at $54.7 million, and he is eligible to sign a two-year deal (no more than that due to the NBA’s age-38 rule) for just above $120 million in total value.

But even though Durant remains an All-Star player, all indications are that the deal probably won’t be at the maximum amount.

For starters, if a maximum deal was on the table and Durant had already communicated his desire to extend (as he has), why wouldn’t it already be signed? Second, intel from earlier in the offseason were that Durant is open to taking a sub-max deal.

Finally, the Rockets are being cautious with future payrolls and attempting to avoid many of the punitive team-building restrictions placed on expensive teams under the NBA’s latest Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). That is very important for a 2027-28 season in which rising star Amen Thompson will likely be on the books at a much higher salary.

For those reasons, it appears that at least some negotiations are taking place regarding the next Durant contract, and it won’t be as simple as general manager Rafael Stone giving him the maximum amount and years.

Whatever the case, it sounds as though we won’t have to wait very long to find out the end result. While there is no firm deadline and talks can theoretically drag into the regular season (in contrast to the Oct. 20 rookie-scale extension deadline for Tari Eason), it sounds like a Durant deal is inevitable and fairly imminent.

The regular season opens in less than two weeks on Tuesday, October 21.

As first reported by ESPN, the Houston Rockets are likely to pursue a disabled player exception for veteran guard Fred VanVleet, a team source confirmed to ClutchFans.

VanVleet tore the ACL in his right knee last month and could miss the entire 2025-26 season after undergoing surgery, though a timetable has yet to be specified.

“If a player is seriously injured, his team can apply for the disabled exception to replace him,” HoopsRumors says of the application process. “In order for the exception to be granted, an NBA-designated physician must determine that the player is ‘substantially more likely than not’ to be sidelined through at least June 15 of that league year.”

“If granted, the disabled player exception allows a club to sign a replacement player for 50% of the injured player’s salary or for the amount of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, whichever is lesser.”

With VanVleet slated to make $25 million this season, the “lesser” figure would be half of that salary, or $12.5 million.

There is, however, one catch — at least in the short-term — for the Rockets. ESPN’s Bobby Marks, formerly a front office executive with the Brooklyn Nets, explains:

If the NBA determines VanVleet is out until mid-June, the league would grant the exception, which would normally allow Houston to sign or trade for a player on a one-year contract.

However, even if the exception is granted, Houston would not be allowed to sign a player (such as former Rockets guard Russell Westbrook, for example) into that exception at the moment, because it is just $1.25 million below the first apron. The moves Houston made this offseason hard capped the team at that level.

But even if the Rockets can’t use the disabled player exception at the moment, there is still value to obtaining one, which is why they are likely to file for it.

Later in ESPN’s story, Marks writes:

The eight players Houston signed this summer — VanVleet, Steven Adams, Dorian Finney-Smith, Aaron Holiday, Jae’Sean Tate, Jeff Green, Josh Okogie, and Clint Capela — cannot be traded until mid-December.

After that point, should the Rockets make a trade or multiple trades midway through the season to reduce their overall team payroll, that could give them more room to then use the disabled player exception.

That exception could potentially allow the Rockets to acquire a “salary dump” from a non-contending team without having to send back any contracts in the deal. From the other team’s perspective, those financial savings might be a perk to working a deal with the Rockets.

For now, of course, that’s not an option. But it is a tool that could be useful to general manager Rafael Stone later this season, depending on other moves.

Should the NBA grant the exception, it does not preclude a potential VanVleet return during the 2025-26 season or playoffs. It simply indicates that an independent physician, appointed by the league office, concluded (at this time) that his return is unlikely.

Based on the timeline of prior ACL and major knee injury precedents in the NBA, that would appear to be a reasonable conclusion. A recent study found 9.8 months to be the average return timeline, and that would stretch into July 2026 — i.e. beyond this season.

From the team’s perspective, there is simply no downside to pursuing the exception. Even though it cannot be used now, it potentially could be later. And it does not affect VanVleet’s ability to return late in the 2025-26 season, if his body cooperates. Both the Rockets and VanVleet remain hopeful of that scenario, even if it would be an outlier based on precedent.

If granted, the disabled player exception cannot be aggregated with other salaries to take back a larger contract. It works like any other NBA exception for trade, signing, or waiver claim purposes, but with the added criteria that it must be used for a player on a one-year contract.