<\/p>\n
Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart poses for a photo during Rockets Media Day in Houston, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart poses for a photo during Rockets Media Day in Houston, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart poses for a photo during Rockets Media Day in Houston, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart poses for a photo during Rockets Media Day in Houston, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart poses for a photo during Rockets Media Day in Houston, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Marcus Smart<\/a> always had a feeling that when he got deeper into his career, he\u2019d try and come home.\u00a0<\/p>\n After spending almost all of his first 12 NBA seasons on either the East or West Coast, the Flower Mound, Texas, native achieved that goal ahead of the 13th by signing a two-year, $12.4 million contract with the Houston Rockets<\/a> with a player option in the second year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smart told The Chronicle that he chose Houston\u00a0\u2014 where he has cousins, extended family and family friends\u00a0\u2014 despite getting a bigger offer from the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he played the 2025-26 season. At the same time, Smart said the Lakers offer, which he declined to specify, was \u201cdisrespectful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cFirst off, I played so well that the offer that was ultimately given didn\u2019t match the way that I played,\u201d he said, \u201cespecially when you see guys who played way worse than I did, the offers they\u2019re getting. And then it wasn\u2019t any security that we wanted that they were willing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Los Angeles reshaped its team with a spending spree in free agency.\u00a0According to The Athletic<\/a>, Los Angeles gave out \u201cnearly $480 million over 26 combined contract years, including four player options, to a group of players who have zero combined All-Star appearances or year-end awards.\u201d<\/p>\n That included two years and $19.2 million for guard Collin Sexton, four years and $60 million for wing Quentin Grimes and four years and $52 million for wing\/big Sandro Mamukelashvili\u00a0\u2014 all three received player options.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last offseason, Smart signed a two year, $10.5 million deal with a player option to join the Lakers. He was a reliable contributor across 62 regular season games, averaging 9.3 points, three assists and 1.4 steals per game. He hit a new level in 10 playoff games\u00a0\u2014 including six against the Rockets\u00a0\u2014 averaging 12.9 points, 5.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The predictive metric DARKO, which tries to estimate player performance using box score, on-off and tracking statistics, put Smart in the 90th percentile of all players and said he was worth $29.9 million in salary.\u00a0<\/p>\n That makes his $6.5 million salary with the Rockets a steal.<\/p>\n \u201cThey gave me an opportunity to be able to go out and try to get what I\u2019ve earned,\u201d Smart said, \u201cand what I\u2019ve been working my tail off to provide for my family is a decent-sized paycheck with obviously years on it, right? Or a big paycheck with less years, but to be able to have that option.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to returning home, another draw for Smart was reuniting with Rockets coach Ime Udoka. The two overlapped during Udoka\u2019s lone season leading the Boston Celtics\u00a0\u2014 Smart won the Defensive Player of the Year. He said Udoka\u2019s coaching techniques are unique in the NBA and informed by his playing career. Udoka understands what it takes to succeed in the NBA and can bring the best out of players because nothing is sugarcoated.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smart, speaking at Houston\u2019s first training camp practice Wednesday, said he and Udoka were a perfect fit. The coach concurred.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s everything I\u2019m all about and vice-versa,\u201d Udoka said.<\/p>\n Smart said the Rockets and the young Celtics teams he came up with are very similar. Both are overachieving squads that entered the playoffs with lofty expectations\u00a0\u2014 but then had to learn how to function without their stars, Boston doing so with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward injured, and Houston doing the same last season with Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n \u201cYou got some games where you should have won that you end up losing\u2026 now your confidence drops a little bit,\u201d he said. \u201cBut everything is for a reason, right? You have to go through those battles, those storms, to get to the land.\u201d<\/p>\n Smart and Udoka didn\u2019t get to the land with the Celtics. Both were ousted from Boston by the time the team won the 2024 NBA title. Together again, they\u2019ll try to reach that goal with Houston, with Smart trying to win near home.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m from Texas,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 I get to represent in Texas. \u2018<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Rockets feel overlooked<\/p>\n The Rockets are ramping up cautiously at the start of training camp<\/a> in an effort to avoid soft-tissue injuries. Udoka said the first day of camp was about setting the tone for what Houston wants to be this season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Part of that message? The coach feels like the Rockets are being overlooked and made sure they knew it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe played on opening night last year,\u201d he said. \u201cWe played on Christmas last year. So, that says it.\u201d<\/p>\n Houston is playing on neither, this season.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n What could aid offense?<\/p>\n The Rockets’ offense, despite finishing with a top 10 offensive rating, at times seemed stagnant and gummed up at points last season. Houston was 19th in points per play in the halfcourt, per Cleaning the Glass, and often struggled with turnovers.<\/p>\n \u201cGood basketball is body movement, player movement, sharing the ball,\u201d said point guard Fred VanVleet<\/a>, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL. \u201cYou gotta have some sets and things for late game and getting into your actions\u2026 but just looked a little disjointed, looked like we didn\u2019t have a point guard last year, so you hope that alleviates some of the problems.\u201d<\/p>\n