Rockets’ Tari Eason discusses tough times during injury-plagued season and his journey back

HOUSTON — The air conditioning system at the 53,000-square-foot Guy V. Lewis Training Center is state-of-the-art, but at 8 p.m. on a Texas summer night, its productivity has ground to a halt. An exhausted Tari Eason leans against the south wall for a brief respite, soaked through to his capri sweatpants and Kobe 6 “Reverse Grinch” sneakers.

A few yards away, Rockets forward Cam Whitmore, Eason’s teammate and summer training partner, finishes a drill with local coach Aaron Miller. Eason and Whitmore are working on improving their three-point shooting, moving around the perimeter like a circuit but with different goals in mind.

With Whitmore, rhythm and form are the focus. For Eason, 23, the goal is to improve as a shooter. But the fact that he can get reps and be able to move his legs quickly is a victory in its own right. Because there have been days when he couldn’t.

A few minutes later, Miller walks Eason through a dribble-pass drill. After receiving a pass in the right corner, Eason is asked to move left with the ball, dribbling around a screen before taking a pull-up jumper in one fluid motion. Having largely made his mark in the NBA defensively, Eason is working to expand his offensive repertoire. Of Eason’s 222 career 3-point attempts, 207 of them have been made for him, according to NBA.com tracking data. In coach Ime Udoka’s offensive scheme, which is adding wrinkles ahead of the 2024-25 season, there’s room for improvisation in half-court structures, and Eason is working to ensure he’s a more diverse option on the court.

Eason’s dribbling mechanics look more fluid now as he performs a wide range of dribbles, a talent he didn’t have when he entered the league in 2022. Midway through his drill, Eason misses three shots in a row.

He swears, before starting all over again.

It’s not just about missing a golden opportunity. Eason’s frustration is rooted in pressure. He knows the margin for error is slim, especially heading into a year when he knows he’ll have to fight for his spot in Udoka’s rotation. But it’s been more than six months since Eason last played on an NBA court. In March, the third-year forward underwent season-ending surgery to treat a tumor on his left shin. Before that, Eason sought second and third opinions on an injury that left several questions dating back to training camp.

For Eason, who prides himself on his availability (he played in all 82 games as a rookie and missed one game at LSU), being forced away from basketball, even momentarily, was tough.

“It was a tough time,” Eason said. The Athletic“I’ve never had to deal with a major injury or anything that took me away from basketball for a long time. It was tough on me mentally, but I had the right people by my side, giving me positive energy and praying. That helped keep me grounded throughout the process.”

Eason recently spoke with The Athletic to discuss his injury, recovery process, return to the gym and more. Some portions have been edited for length and clarity.

Coach Aaron Miller, center, works with Cam Whitmore, left, and Tari Eason. (Photo courtesy of Cody Barclay)

I know the recovery process is long, but how are you feeling right now?

I feel good. I feel like I’m close to 100%. You’ve seen me jumping, running, dunks. I feel pretty normal, to be honest. It’s really about getting all the movements back where they were.

From an outsider’s perspective, it certainly looked like an injury that took a long time to diagnose. When did you start to feel like something was wrong?

I would say right before training camp in the Bahamas when the team was traveling. While I was training, I noticed that my shin was really sore. I thought maybe it was from lack of treatment or stretching, that kind of thing. I spent more time in the training room and just ignored it. But definitely around training camp, because every time I jumped, it hurt. I thought maybe it was shin splints or something. The year before, I played all 82 games and I definitely wasn’t in the training room as much as I was this year.

Does this process take time, recalibrating your body and regaining muscle memory?

Sure. The first week, running, jumping and doing certain movements was a little awkward. But over time (and workouts), everything went back to normal.

In terms of planning recovery and rehab time, is it more about how your body reacts on a given day? Or is there a set regimen that you stick to no matter what?

As for my rehab process, it really depends on how I feel. But at the same time, my leg feels really good. I don’t feel the same pain as before, so I’m trying to find a happy medium between pushing myself but not overdoing it. I’m the one getting back into the rhythm, so I don’t want to rush it.

From what I’ve seen, you’re getting a little more fluid in your ball handling and finishing. You’ve been working with Aaron Miller for a while now, right?

Yeah, it was great. I’ve been working with Aaron since LSU. He came to LSU and trained me with (coach) Will Wade, so we’ve had a relationship since then and seeing him in the gym with Cam (Whitmore), it made more sense because of our previous relationship.

Having not been able to play much last season, you were able to have a close-up view of your team. What did you see of their way of playing and progressing?

I’m really proud of the team, especially the way the guys finished (the season). Things were shaky in the middle of the season, but we really came together and regrouped and put together a good run. It gives us great momentum going into next year – with me coming back – and the addition of (Reed Sheppard).

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You built a reputation as an iron man as a rookie. Not being able to replicate that last season, how was that? Waking up and knowing you wouldn’t be able to play a game that night?

It was weird going to games without wearing regular clothes. It was sad. There was a time when I was really sad, a moment of depression. I didn’t know what was going to happen, I didn’t know what the solution was. The idea of ​​not knowing is uncomfortable. But I kept praying and focusing on what I could control, even strengthening my right leg or getting my body back in shape. My ability to come back so quickly since surgery is due to the time I spent in the training room, working on all aspects of my body: my core, my fitness, and my endurance. It allowed me to bounce back faster.

Heading into next season, do you have something to prove? You’ve missed a lot of time and are back in a competitive squad. How do you feel as you prepare for a new campaign?

I don’t have much to say about that. I’ll let my game do the talking. There’s been a lot of talk about me, about how people perceive me, I hear it all. But I’m not here to prove anything.

Are you referring to the incident last season with the Golden State Warriors? Is that part of the noise you’re talking about?

Yeah, just the outside noise. I don’t care. Even with the Draymond (Green) thing, I was hurt and it was unfortunate that I couldn’t be there to support my guys, but I didn’t even want that thing to blow up as much as it did. At the end of the day, you have to put your money where your mouth is. It didn’t happen for us, but it’s just adding fuel to the fire.

How important is it for you to be able to go into the lab with Cam during the offseason, especially before a big year?

I think it’s huge. The kids, we’re all about the same age. Some of us have played together in AAU camps coming up, like me and Jabari (Smith Jr.) at the Top 100 camp. So we have a really good relationship, especially because we’re really young, we don’t have family and we’re always in the gym. It’s a bond that you build by working out late at night and early in the morning.

Did you keep in regular contact with Ime Udoka and the technical staff during this process?

They work closely with our team coach (Motoki Fujii). He explains to them the things I can and can’t do, the movements. He makes sure I’m comfortable going into this next phase, because it’s going to start to intensify.

Are there things you learned about yourself during this process that you might not have known a few months ago?

I think I’m a lot stronger than I thought. The first reaction was, ‘There’s no way he’s playing with a stress fracture,’ but it turns out that’s the case. People think there’s no way I’m playing with that. My ability to play was probably the most important thing, my pain tolerance being high.

(Top photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)