The Utah Jazz have only seen their 5th overall pick from the 2025 NBA Draft, Ace Bailey, appear in one preseason game. Even with that small sample size, it doesn’t seem the rookie from Rutgers has left any ounce of doubt for his new home — he showed out in his first taste of NBA action.
Ace led the Jazz in minutes played as the Jazz made their preseason debut in Houston. Squaring off against his basketball idol (and notably still very good, even while navigating through the dreaded late-30s period of his career), Kevin Durant, Ace Bailey did something of an emulation trick, dropping 25 points while knocking through jumpers from every area code on the floor.
He was vicious, unrelenting, and truthfully unstoppable during his floor time — like Jack Jack from the Incredibles during, well, his floor time.
Everything that made Ace a mouth-watering prospect as a freshman at Rutgers was on full display, even on the elevated stage of the NBA. On the first possession of the game, Bailey cascaded off a Jusuf Nurkic screen at the top of the key for a catch-and-release free-throw line jumper. Bucket.
His first points on an NBA floor were a no-hesitation, give me the ball and I’ll chuck it, jumper on the move. For a franchise in Utah that often struggles to hone self-creation on the offensive end, Bailey was a revelation from this moment forward.
A lefty drive halted on a dime led to a whiplash-inducing turnaround jumper. The move was heinous. The basketball met nylon.
The second half opened with back-to-back three-pointers from Utah’s Ace, and a handful of slams left the Houston defense guessing.
Throughout his time on the floor, Bailey was disruptive on defense and relentless on offense. His looks weren’t forced — shot selection was excellent from the youngster — and he clearly looks very comfortable with a basketball in his hands. It’s almost as if he were transported back to his childhood every time the leather meets his fingertips in a an Anton Ego Ratatouille-style flashback.
He was one of several Utah’s young players to shine in their game time on Wednesday night, and everything the team could have hoped for with the fifth pick.
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