Nobody seems to understand what Ace Bailey’s endgame is.
In what appeared to be a concerted effort to tank his draft stock, the Rutgers product attempted to steer himself away from certain teams. It worked with the Sixers. It worked with the Hornets. It didn’t work with the Utah Jazz.
And no, it’s not because the Beehive State doesn’t have any Waffle Houses.
As Brian Windhorst laid out on Thursday’s SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt, Bailey was clearly trying to engineer his landing spot through some self-sabotage, and Utah wasn’t on his preferred list. That came on top of ESPN’s Jonathan Givony revealing that at least one team in the top five — perhaps more — was told flat-out: if you draft him, he’s not reporting.
And yet, Utah took him anyway.
Bailey didn’t go to Utah on Thursday. He didn’t join the Jazz’s other first-round pick, Walter Clayton Jr., who made his way to Salt Lake City. The Florida product and reigning national champion will be there on Monday when Summer League training camp opens up. Come hell or high water, Bailey will need to be there, too.
Windhorst is adamant that Danny Ainge and his son, Austin, aren’t going to bend here. They’re not getting pushed around. They don’t care how messy this might get. So the idea that Bailey and his camp are going to pressure the Jazz into anything is completely unfounded, no matter how ridiculous Van Pelt thinks this all is.
“I watched him play a ton for Rutgers, and I like him,” said SVP. “And this seems kind of ridiculous to me. He’s good, but not this good. To be trying to dictate to people, ‘Don’t take me.’ Like, what the hell is that?”
The situation defuses itself if Bailey shows up Monday. Utah got burned in the lottery and still managed to land a top-three talent. The Jazz aren’t exactly in a position to pass on elite players. And if that means dealing with some discomfort? So be it. That’s the cost of doing business right now.
SVP said it best: Bailey’s good, but not that good. Not good enough to dictate terms before he’s even touched an NBA floor. If Monday turns into a standoff, the Jazz are ready for it. And Bailey better be, too.
Because no matter how much of a bucket-maker Bailey is, he’s not in a position to dictate anything quite yet.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.