The Houston Rockets’ Jeff Green is the LeBron James of role players. But will 2024-25 see him lay down his crown? The player who underwent heart surgery in his fifth season is now preparing to suit up for his seventeenth (although he only actually played in sixteen on account of, well, heart surgery). He’s been productive on the court in every one of them. At some point though, the role of purely locker-room leader and bench presence will surely call. Will he be ready to play it?
Jeff Green: The LeBron James of Role Players
Green was already supposed to play sparingly for the Houston Rockets last season. He did to some extent. Green played the fewest minutes per game of his career at only 16.8. However, he only missed a grand total of four contests. His assignment also became the vitally important role of backup center, one he’s become accustomed to at this point.
Green’s Role Player Credentials
Green has played for so many teams that the first team he ever played for doesn’t even exist anymore. Perhaps recent expansion talks will result in the glorious return of the Seattle SuperSonics, who Green played for in its final year.
Since then he’s had stints with the Oklahoma City Thunder (who replaced the Sonics), the Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, Orlando Magic, and Cleveland Cavaliers (bringing Green to his first NBA finals in his lone year there alongside the actual LeBron), Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets (his first stint with his current team was as part of Houston’s micro-ball experiment), Brooklyn Nets, and Denver Nuggets (which was his first stay that lasted two full seasons since Boston). Green is therefore a very familiar face around the league. While not all those teams were good, Green was never a reason why they were bad. He primarily occupied a bench role with most of them and was a valuable source of two-way size and athleticism at every stop.
However, there is perhaps no more impressive ongoing career in the whole association that is so entirely unheralded. The closest Green came to any kind of special recognition over his 16-year NBA career was finishing 25th in Most Improved Player votes in his second season. His best-scoring season resulted in an average of 16.9 points per game. Green achieved that in his last full season with the Boston Celtics back in 2013-14.
Green’s First Rockets Stint
It wouldn’t be until perhaps the lowest point of Green’s career that he would discover his calling in the league. The Jazz waived him after being unable to find a trade. But Green was eagerly scooped up by the experimentally inclined Rockets. Their experiment at the time? No centers. So enter Green, the team’s new backup five. He was Houston’s second-best player in the early going of Houston’s Covid bubble series against the Thunder. His perimeter skills at the five were too much for fellow current Rocket (then…Thunder) Steven Adams to handle, resulting in the big Kiwi spending the rest of the series on the bench.
Getting His Ring
Green would eventually return to this small-ball center role during the most important phase of his career—during the playoffs for the team he would win a championship with. Aaron Gordon (who Green also played with in Orlando) would get most of the headlines for the success of Denver’s small-ball lineups. Green only averaged 4.1 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in the postseason, after all. The importance of Green’s contribution was highlighted by Denver’s struggles without him the following year, though.
Back With The Rockets
Where did he go? Back to the Rockets. And there he remains. But will Greens’ role with the Rockets this season remain the same as well? He already played the fewest minutes of his career last season. This year, the roster squeeze has gotten even tighter. The front office will be keen to find more minutes for prospects Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore. Tari Eason will hopefully return strong from injury. Jae’Sean Tate will likely be the first-minute casualty, but Green may be next.
Meanwhile, at center, the Rockets may experiment more with modern big Jabari Smith Jr. They still have Jock Landale and added a recuperated Adams. And that’s just for the minutes not given over to potential All-Star Alperen Sengun. As Green, affectionately known as Uncle Jeff, gets older, playing center will be more and more his only option. But for the Rockets, at center, Green is just one option of many.
How much he’ll play will probably come down to fit and availability. If rookie Reed Sheppard doesn’t pop, head coach Ime Udoka may value Green’s shooting more. If Thompson, Eason, or Whitmore continue to suffer injury issues, Green may be the logical stand-in. It seems reasonable to think, however, that if all goes as planned for Houston, Green’s role may be limited to the locker room positivity he’s known for.
The Last Word
Green isn’t just the LeBron James of role players for his longevity and age-defyingly high-flying antics. He’s also a do-everything Swiss army knife. Obviously he doesn’t do everything the way that LeBron does everything; that is inexplicably better than just about anyone else alive. But he shoots, he rebounds, and he handles the ball (and, some Michael Jordan fans would say, he bounces around the league to play with stars). If the Rockets have a need next season, Green will fill it. If they don’t, next season might be when the role he plays finally changes to not playing at all fully accepting the role of a vertan presence.
