Tari Eason opens up on lows of injury-riddled season and his journey back (2024)

HOUSTON — The air conditioning system within the 53,000 square-foot Guy V. Lewis practice facility is state of the art, but by 8 p.m. on a Texas summer night, its productivity has come to a halt. An exhausted Tari Eason, leaning against the south wall in hopes of a brief respite, is drenched, down to his capri sweats and “Reverse Grinch” Kobe 6 sneakers.

A few feet away, Rockets forward Cam Whitmore, Eason’s teammate and summer workout partner, is finishing a drill with local trainer Aaron Miller. Eason and Whitmore are working on improving their consistency from the 3-point line, relocating around the perimeter in a circuit-like fashion but with different objectives in mind.

With Whitmore, rhythm and form are the focus. For the 23-year-old Eason, there’s a goal to improve as a shooter. But the fact he’s getting reps in, and the ability to move his legs rapidly, is a standalone victory. Because there were days not too long ago when he couldn’t.

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

The mechanics of Eason’s handle look smoother now as he performs a wide array of dribbles, a bag he didn’t have when he first entered the league in 2022. Halfway through his drill, Eason misses three shots in a row.

He curses, before starting all over.

It’s not just about missing an open look. Eason’s frustration is rooted in pressure. He knows the margin of error is small, especially heading into a year knowing he’ll have to fight for his place in Udoka’s rotation. But it’s been over six months since Eason last stepped on an NBA floor. In March, the third-year forward underwent season-ending surgery to treat a growth on his left shin. Before that, Eason had been seeking second and third opinions on an injury that had left several questions dating back to training camp.

For Eason, who prides himself on availability — he appeared in all 82 games as a rookie and missed one game at LSU — being forced to step away from basketball, even momentarily, was difficult.

“It was a trying time,” Eason told The Athletic. “I’ve never really dealt with a major injury or anything that has kept me out of basketball for a long period of time. It was tough on me mentally, but I had the right people in my corner, giving me good, positive energy and praying. That helped me stay grounded through the process.”

Eason recently sat down with The Athletic to discuss his injury, the recovery process, being back in the gym and more. Parts have been edited for length and clarity.

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 percent. You’ve seen me jumping, running, dunking. I feel pretty normal, to be honest. It’s really about getting all the movements back to where they were.

This certainly felt, at least from an outsider’s perspective, like an injury that took a while to diagnose. When did you start to feel like something was wrong?

I’d say right before training camp in the Bahamas during the team trip. Working out, I would notice that my shin would be really, really sore. I thought that was maybe through lack of treatment or stretching, things like that. I put more time in the training room and just ignored it. But definitely around training camp, because every time I jumped, I was in pain. I thought it might have been shin splints or something. The previous year, I played all 82 games and definitely wasn’t in the training room then as much as this year.

Does that process take a while, recalibrating your body and regaining muscle memory?

For sure. The first week doing it, running and jumping and doing certain movements was a little awkward. But as time progressed (and the workouts continued) it’s getting back to normal.

In terms of scheduling time to recover and rehab, is it more along the lines of how your body is reacting on a particular day? Or is there a set regimen that you stick to no matter what?

As far as my rehab process, it’s definitely based on how I feel. But at the same time, my leg feels really good. I don’t feel the same pain that I felt before, so trying to find that happy medium between pushing it but not overdoing myself. This is me getting back into the swing of things, so I don’t want to rush it.

From what I’ve seen, you’re becoming a bit more fluid with ballhandling and finishing. You’ve worked with Aaron Miller for some time now, correct?

Yeah, it’s been great. I’ve been working with Aaron since LSU. He came down to LSU and worked me out 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 prior relationship.

Not being able to play much last season, you had an up-close view of your team. What did you see from how they played and grew?

I’m super proud of the team, especially the way the guys ended (the season). Things were shaky during the middle of the season, but we really came together as a unit and banded together to make a good run. It gives us great momentum going into next year — with me coming back — and the addition of (Reed Sheppard).

You carved out a reputation as an iron man as a rookie. To not be able to replicate that last season, how was that for you? Waking up knowing you can’t play in a game that evening?

It was weird going to games and not suiting up, wearing regular clothes. It was sad. There was a point where I really was sad, a low point. I didn’t know what was going to happen, I didn’t know what the solution was. That thought of not knowing is uncomfortable. But I stayed prayed up and focused on controlling what I could, even strengthening my right leg or getting my body right. My ability to have come back as fast as I have since surgery is a credit to the amount of time spent in the training room, working on all aspects of my body — my core, fitness and stamina. It’s allowed me to bounce back quicker.

Going into next season, do you have anything to prove? You missed a lot of time and are returning to a competitive group, how do you feel as you prepare for another campaign?

I don’t have too many words on that. I’m going to let my game do the talking. A lot of stuff has been said, a lot of ways people view me, I hear it all. But I’m not here to prove anything.

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

Yeah, just the outside noise. It doesn’t matter to me. Even as far as the Draymond (Green) thing, I was hurt and it was unfortunate that I couldn’t be out 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 gotta put your money where your mouth is. It didn’t happen for us, but it’s fuel to the fire.

How important is it for you to be able to get in the lab with Cam during the offseason, especially ahead of a big year?

I think it’s huge. The young guys, we’re all around similar ages. 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 so young, don’t have families and are always in the gym. It’s a bond that you create through working out late nights, early mornings.

Have you kept in regular contact with Ime Udoka and the coaching staff during this process?

They’re working closely with our team’s trainer (Motoki Fujii). He’s filling them in on the things that I can and can’t do, the movements. Making sure I’m comfortable going into this next phase because it’s going to start ramping up.

Are there things you’ve 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 I was. The initial reaction was, ‘There’s no way he’s playing through a stress fracture,’ but it turns out it was. People think that there was no way I was playing through that. My ability to play was probably the biggest thing; my pain tolerance being high.

(Top photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

Kelly Iko is a staff writer covering the Houston Rockets and the NBA for The Athletic. The upcoming 2023-24 season will be his eighth following the NBA, having previously worked with USA Today and ESPN Houston. Follow Kelly on Twitter @KellyIko