Rutgers star Ace Bailey made every possible move to lower his stock to be drafted by a team of his choosing. Unfortunately, this unorthodox approach to the drafting process seems to have backfired. With the fifth-overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, Bailey was selected by the Utah Jazz, one of his least preferred destinations.
After his selections, Bailey opened up about his experience of being drafted during his media availability. While speaking about being drafted by the Jazz, he said:
"It's just a blessing. The little kid in me is smiling hard right now because the hard work, the sacrifice, the blood, the sweat, the tears, not just for me, but for everyone, went into this. So the little kid in me is just smiling at me right now."
Bailey also followed up by saying that he wasn't expecting to be drafted by the Jazz. He was asked a follow-up question about his thoughts on being selected with the fifth-overall pick. In light of his pre-draft activities and efforts to manipulate his stock, he said:
"I can control what I can control. They feel how they feel. But my team and me, me focusing on basketball and they're doing what they're doing, so it happens."
The Rutgers star is undoubtedly one of the more intriguing characters from this year's NBA draft. A clear indication of his disappointment in being drafted by the Jazz was also caught on the broadcast. Regardless, the situation could not be further away from favorable for the guard.
After a tremendous outing in college, averaging 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds, Bailey was widely expected to be a lottery pick in this year's draft. But the forward and his team opted to take an interesting approach to the pre-draft workouts, outright declining to work out with teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers, among others.
The forward was viewed as the most likely target for the Brooklyn Nets, potentially being selected with the eighth-overall pick. There were also murmurs of the New Orleans Pelicans being interested in him.. Unfortunately, none of these came to fruition.
It is rather shocking for the Jazz to pick a player like Bailey. The outline of a rebuilding team would give the Rutgers product the ideal environment to stat pad and grant him the road to stardom, but this would effectively stunt the growth of Keyonte George as well.
Additionally, the Jazz's offseason plans seem difficult to decipher. Having engaged in conversations to make a trade offer for Jaylen Brown, Utah could potentially be looking to bolster its roster ahead of the new season.
The rumors coming out of the league at this juncture have been largely misleading, with virtually no major movement taking place. Regardless, the plan of action remains the same for the Jazz's rookie. Bailey will look to make his mark on the NBA to prove a lot of naysayers wrong, particularly in light of his pre-draft antics.
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