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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
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Eva Geitheim

ESPN Analyst Rips Ace Bailey's Draft Attempt to Avoid Certain NBA Teams

Ace Bailey arrives before the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Prior to the NBA draft, a top prospect, Ace Bailey, declined to participate in pre-draft workouts with any team. This included the Utah Jazz, who took him with the No. 5 pick on Wednesday. ESPN's Jonathan Givony reported that Bailey's representatives told at least one team with a top-five draft pick not to select Bailey and that he wouldn't report if they did.

Though it's unclear if the Jazz are the team Bailey's representatives told not to take Bailey, ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported Thursday that Bailey was "very clearly" trying to land in certain spots in the draft, and that the Jazz were not one of those places.

Bailey has received scrutiny from how he and his representation have gone about the draft process, including from ESPN analyst Scott Van Pelt. Though Van Pelt likes Bailey as a player, he found the way Bailey and his team went about the draft to be "ridiculous."

"I watched him play a ton for Rutgers and I like him, but this seems kinda ridiculous to me," Van Pelt said on ESPN. "[Ace Bailey is] good, but he's not this good. To be trying to dictate to people don't take me. Like, what the hell is that?"

Bailey's agent, Omar Cooper, has already responded to critics of his pre-draft process. "Every NBA team watched him work out in Chicago," Cooper said, via Givony. "He did 18 interviews. Everyone got his medical. They watched him run and jump. They got his measurements.

"No one said anything when Davion Mitchell canceled a workout with the Toronto Raptors. No one criticized Evan Mobley when he didn't work out for Cleveland, and they drafted him anyway. There is nothing uncommon about how Ace Bailey's pre-draft process was handled."

Another member of Bailey's representation, Andrew Witlieb, told Front Office Sports Today that Bailey is "thrilled" to be joining the Jazz and Witlieb thinks Utah is a "great situation basketball-wise" for Bailey.

As of Thursday night, Bailey did not go to Utah while fellow Jazz first-round pick, Walter Clayton Jr., did travel to Utah. This is not an issue at this point, but it could become one if Bailey doesn't report by Monday, when training camp for NBA summer league begins.

Ultimately, ESPN's Shams Charania reported on the Pat McAfee Show that the Jazz will not be trading Bailey. Unless Bailey sits out of the NBA season, he will end up playing for the Jazz.


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ESPN Analyst Rips Ace Bailey's Draft Attempt to Avoid Certain NBA Teams.

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