After an unconventional approach to the 2025 NBA Draft that saw his stock take a slight dip to land at No. 5, Ace Bailey will report Saturday to his new team, the Utah Jazz, according to ESPN.
“We’ve had good communication with Ace Bailey and his representatives,” a Jazz representative told ESPN Friday. “We feel good about everything. Ace and his family are coming to Utah tomorrow. We’ll have a press conference Sunday and a practice Monday.
“This has always been the plan, including for our other rookies, Walter Clayton and John Tonje — to let them go home and collect their belongings, and then fly right to summer league from Salt Lake City.”
Bailey took a sometimes confounding and confusing route to Wednesday’s draft. A freshman 18-year-old with one season at Rutgers and a McDonald’s All-American resume before that, multiple NBA teams attempted to get to know Bailey the player, person and prospect a little bit better in the five weeks leading up to the draft.
But Bailey canceled all public workouts with teams, a stance that surprised some established NBA players and may have contributed to Bailey going from being projected in the top three to being taken with the No. 5 pick.
However, Bailey’s agent, Omar Cooper, argued there was “nothing uncommon” about how the pre-draft was handled.
“Every NBA team watched him work out in Chicago,” Cooper said, per ESPN. “He did 18 interviews. Everyone got his medical. They watched him run and jump. They got his measurements. They watched him shoot in drills.
“No one said anything when Davion Mitchell canceled a workout with the Toronto Raptors for the No. 4 pick. No one criticized Evan Mobley when he didn’t work out for Cleveland, and they drafted him anyway.”
Utah’s decision to pick Bailey is one that Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge said was extremely simple despite public concern about Bailey’s refusal to work out for teams before the draft.
“We do a lot of background calls and work on guys and everyone loves being around Ace,” Ainge said. “He’s fun, smiles every day. Just a breath of fresh air in the gym. We were able to speak with him. He was super excited. We’re super excited. We’re expecting a very bright future.”
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bailey averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 2024-25 for Rutgers.
–Field Level Media
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