Former Auburn star Jabari Smith Jr. returned to Alabama and scored 26 points as the Houston Rockets held on for a 130-128 victory in an NBA preseason game in Birmingham on Tuesday night.
In the Rockets’ next-to-last preseason game, Smith spent 22:27 on the court. He sank seven of his 16 field-goal attempts, made all eight of his free throws and added five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot.
Smith scored 10 of Houston’s 42 points in the third quarter, which propelled the Rockets to a 14-point lead entering the final period. Smith did not play in the fourth quarter, and New Orleans tied the game with 22 seconds left. Aaron Holliday hit the winning basket for Houston with two seconds to play.
Smith is preparing for his fourth NBA season. He joined the Rockets as the third pick in the 2022 NBA Draft after one season at Auburn and enters the 2025-26 season with career averages of 13.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
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Rockets guard JD Davison and Pelicans guard Herb Jones also were back playing basketball in Alabama on Tuesday night. Both played at Alabama and were prep stars in the state – Davison at Calhoun and Jones at Hale County.
Jones had 10 points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot in 24:16 of court time. Like New Orleans as whole, Jones couldn’t get his 3-point shot to fall. He made 1-of-6 from behind the arc. The Pelicans went 9-of-38 on 3-pointers as a team.
“It’s amazing,” Jones said on Tuesday about playing back home. “Not a lot of pro teams come to Alabama and play. To be from Alabama and get the opportunity to come back and play is always amazing.”
Davison won the NBA Gatorade League Most Valuable Player Award last season, his third with the Boston Celtics, while playing for their affiliate in Maine. He signed a two-way contract with Houston in the offseason, allowing the Rockets to move him freely between their NBA roster and their G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, this season.
Davison had three points, two assists and one steal in 12 minutes on Tuesday night.
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Houston concludes its preseason schedule against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night before tipping off its regular-season slate on Tuesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
New Orleans concludes its preseason schedule against the Orlando Magic on Thursday night before tipping off its regular-season slate on Oct. 22 against the Memphis Grizzlies.