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Jonathan Givony
Ace Bailey, the No. 5 pick in the NBA draft Wednesday, plans to report to the Utah Jazz as expected Saturday, a team representative told ESPN.
“We’ve had good communication with Ace Bailey and his representatives,” the Jazz representative told ESPN on Friday. “We feel good about everything. Ace and his family are coming to Utah tomorrow. We’ll have a press conference Sunday and a practice Monday.
“This has always been the plan, including for our other rookies, Walter Clayton and John Tonje — to let them go home and collect their belongings, and then fly right to summer league from Salt Lake City.”
Bailey’s predraft strategy had been one of the biggest storylines entering this year’s draft after he canceled a trip to the Philadelphia 76ers, who held the No. 3 pick. He was the only American player who, entering draft night, hadn’t conducted a single visit to work out for an NBA team.
He also declined invitations from the Charlotte Hornets and the Jazz, who picked fourth and fifth. Sources from Bailey’s camp told ESPN in the lead-up to the draft that those teams were not among his preferred destinations, with his preference believed to be Washington, which held the No. 6 selection and was aggressive in looking to move up in the draft, according to teams picking in the top five.
For his part, Omar Cooper, Bailey’s agent, pushed back on the notion that anything they did during the process was outside of the normal course of business.
“Every NBA team watched him work out in Chicago,” Cooper previously told ESPN. “He did 18 interviews. Everyone got his medical. They watched him run and jump. They got his measurements. They watched him shoot in drills.
“No one said anything when Davion Mitchell canceled a workout with the Toronto Raptors for the No. 4 pick. 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 predraft process was handled.”
Bailey, the No. 3 prospect on ESPN’s big board, was a hotly debated prospect among NBA teams all season. At 6-foot-9 in shoes with tantalizing shotmaking ability, he has the size to be a go-to scoring wing, the most valuable positional archetype in the league. But Bailey was not a particularly efficient scorer and has significant room to improve as a ball handler and passer.
“He’s great,” Utah Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge told reporters in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night after drafting Bailey. “We were able to speak with him. He was super excited. We’re super excited. We’re expecting a very bright future.
“His scoring gets a lot of attention, [and] deservedly so. He’s very skilled for his size. But watching a lot of film on him, I was impressed with his defensive effort and particularly his rebounding. Lot of weakside block shots, and his joy and energy for the game.
“We do a lot of background calls and work on guys, and everyone loves being around Ace.”
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.