Ace Bailey didn't, doesn't want to be in Utah. At least that's what media reports, speculation, and even his own agent would make of his odd behavior around the NBA Draft.
The third of the 2025 Rookie Class' consensus Big Three -- Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper being the other two -- could have potentially destroyed his entire stock with the hubbub surrounding his pre-draft process. There was the refusal to work out for any team, his agent apparently threatening multiple GM's drafting in the top five that Bailey wouldn't report to them if taken, according to ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Tim Bontemps.
A potential top three pick with historical scoring talent was about to fall to near the end of the lottery, possibly further if multiple teams decided to ice him out in light of what looked like a future walking morale problem, a diva in the making.
And then, out of nowhere, Utah decided to bite anyway in one of the bigger surprises of the draft. Givony and Bontemps even made note that Bailey was vocally unsure that the Jazz were looking at him, right up until the moment his name is called. And you didn't need to read any articles or recaps to see how unsure Bailey was about the situation -- Bailey's poker face absolutely failed him as he crossed the podium to Adam Silver. And to add a cherry on top, multiple media sources, including Nico Martinez of Fadeaway World, circulated a report by ESPN's Brian Windhorst claiming that Bailey was potentially dragging his feet on flying out to meet with Utah brass post-draft.
And yet, arrive he did: the Utah Jazz's most ballyhooed rookie, likely since Deron Williams. Carmelo Anthony himself compared Bailey's skill set and arc to a young Tracy McGrady with underrated defense on an episode of his podcast 7PM in Brooklyn. You don't get to become arguably the second-best pick in a draft without the chops that Bailey has in reserve, and if it weren't for his odd pre-draft choices, Bailey could and would have been just that.
Ace Bailey's ceiling is incredible high in Utah
For the most part, both Utah and their prized rookie have given their answers. Ryan Miller of KSL.com reported that Bailey squashed all doubts of being in Utah in a general presser, and requested to work out at the team's practice facility immediately upon landing. In that same presser, Bailey seemed for all the world to display the characteristic high energy, coachability, motor, and enthusiasm that made him a darling in mock drafts prior to his slide.
"I've got great energy. I can do everything from rebounding from defense to scoring to passing," he said. And for Utah's part, you can ask the team's basketball ops president Austin Ainge: "We're so pumped. This is a dream scenario for us."
And good lord did they put their money where their mouth was. Bailey might be willing to do anything for the team, but the Jazz seem to know what they want and have in him. Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton are gone to free agency and the Hornets respectively, and gone with them are their high usage rates. Next up on the list is Lauri Markkanen, who, according to Zach Lowe on his eponymous podcast, could likely be on the trade block in the near future. Clarkson and Sexton alone leave Utah with one of the youngest cores in the league, and a massive scoring void just begging to be filled. And you'd be able to almost double that in size with Markkanen.
Utah might not be a major market, like most anticipated Bailey wanted. It might be tucked away into the middle of the country, isolated on a mountain, bereft of much of the glorious history most other teams can boast. But if Bailey wants it, there is something to be built there. He enters into a perfect storm as the perfect catalyst. He has entered into the NBA as one of its greatest pure scoring prospects in years, and it has been noted that he has the physicality, motor, work ethic, and attitude to build on his skill sets rather than coast. And he has been verbally, and seemingly demonstrably, given the keys and green light to make mistakes, grow, and build a team and a culture from essentially nothing.
The 2025 Rookie Class is on the road to becoming remembered as the Cooper Flagg Sweepstakes. But for all of the drama he has caused, Ace Bailey has the opportunity to rob Flagg of his crown, and we don't just mean the Rookie of the Year award.
All he has to do is to take it.