Ace Bailey, the top wing talent from Rutgers, has been making waves with his unorthodox pre-draft process. Because as the NBA Draft approached, his reps moved heaven and earth. They offered the same advice to the teams picking in the top five — do not draft Bailey. As a result of this surprising move, there has been much debate about the future of player decisions in the draft process.
Bailey’s spokespeople didn’t mince words about his intentions. He will not show up to any team that drafts him in the top five. This position was on full display during the draft. Bailey had for much of the season been considered a top-three pick foreshadowing this, so that made it all the more notable. That shouldn’t have stopped him from having 18 in-person interviews with all the different teams or showing out at a regional workout in Chicago.
Omar Cooper, Bailey’s agent, stood up strongly in defense of the former Indiana player’s pre-draft process. He stated, “Every NBA team watched him work out in Chicago. He did 18 interviews. Everyone got his medical. They watched him run and jump. They got his measurements.” Cooper reiterated that there was nothing abnormal in the way Bailey’s pre-draft process was managed.
In an interesting twist, Bailey did not perform at all during his Utah Jazz workout, which is where he ended up being selected with the fifth overall pick. He’d missed team workouts too, he hadn’t worked out for the Atlanta Hawks or the Washington Wizards. And the Wizards had one open roster spot tailor-made for someone like Bailey. They had just picked Alex Sarr 2nd overall in the draft after he declined to work out for Atlanta.
The draft process leading up to Bailey had been the most discussed draft storylines leading up to the event. His drastic decision not to sign with any of those teams opened up a whole new discussion about player agency and the intricacies of pre-draft negotiations.
Despite all this, Bailey never lost faith that there were indeed better days ahead. “I can’t be worried about that, that’s out of my control,” he said, noting his priorities on the basketball court unrelated to NBA draft machinations. He admitted that there was a lot of disagreement among teams on some of his moves and made the point that “everyone loves being around Ace.”
Austin Ainge of the Utah Jazz sounded excited about drafting Bailey. “We were able to speak with him. He was super excited. We’re super excited. We’re looking at a long time from now,” Ainge said immediately following the draft of selection.
As Bailey’s scoring ability has been the favorite topic of chatters, Ainge put equal weight on his defensive chops and impressive rebounding numbers. “His scoring gets a lot of attention, [and] deservedly so. He’s very skilled for his size,” Ainge remarked. He mentioned that Bailey’s enthusiasm and excitement for the game jumped off the tape during their evaluations.
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