After their winning percentage declined year-over-year for the fourth consecutive season, the last thing the Utah Jazz needed was a headache on draft night.
Counterintuitively, the Jazz steered directly into a potential storm—drafting forward Ace Bailey, an All-Big Ten performer at Rutgers whose representatives were rumored to want him on certain teams. Friday morning, however, ESPN's Shams Charania appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and shut down speculation Utah would attempt to move Bailey.
"As far as the conjecture—the Jazz are not going to be trading Ace Bailey," Charania said. "If he's playing in the NBA, he's playing for the Utah Jazz. That is just a matter of fact."
"The Jazz are not going to be trading Ace Bailey. If he's playing in the NBA, he's playing for the Utah Jazz."@ShamsCharania shares an update regarding Ace Bailey and the Jazz ✍️ (via @PatMcAfeeShow) pic.twitter.com/Uj0VWM5CsP
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 27, 2025
Bailey is Utah's highest draft selection since guard Dante Exum in 2014—a No. 5 pick who turned into a bust.
Opportunity is ample for Bailey in the Beehive State, which evidence suggests is growing substantially. Whether Bailey and his reps believe the basketball and cultural fits line up remains to be seen, but it appears that they will give it a try anyway.
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