Houston's third-year forward had been out since breaking a bone in his hand during the team shootaraound on Jan. 3.

It doesn’t matter about when you start,” Jabari Smith Jr. tells Rockets Wire of his mindset. “It matters what you do when you get in the game.”

Danielle Lerner: Jabari Smith Jr. will come off the bench tonight for the Rockets. Tari Eason will start instead of FVV. Udoka said it’s to ease Smith back in and take advantage of having Eason in first half of a b2b. Jabari said yesterday that he’d accept a bench role.