Jabari Smith Jr. hasn't even played a single minute in the NBA (apart from the Summer League) and already, he's set his sights on some of the league's biggest superstars. The Houston Rockets rookie recently admitted that he enjoys a bit of smack talk and that at this point, he's looking forward to matching up against the likes of Draymond Green, Ja Morant, and Kevin Durant.
Smith recently sat down with Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report, and when asked if he was the trash-talking type, Smith admitted that he has a tendency to engage every now and again (h/t Bleacher Report on Twitter):
“I'm not the type that just go at you first but like, if you say something to me, I'mma be in your ear the rest of the game,” Smith said.
Rooks then asked Smith who he was most excited to face on the court to test his smack-talking skills. The Rockets rookie then revealed his Big 3:
“There's a lot of trash talkers in the league, the best I would probably say like, Draymond Green, Ja Morant. … They say Kevin Durant is a real good trash-talker, but he's kinda like that, too. He won't say nothing if you don't say nothing. So, I'm probably just leave him alone.”
Leaving Kevin Durant alone is probably a good idea. The Brooklyn Nets superstar is already one of the best players in the NBA today, and it's not as if he needs some extra motivation to dominate the game, particularly if he's being given the trash talk treatment by a rookie such as Jabari Smith Jr.