The labels, from Prima Donna to Paria, are putting the doubt in the foreground and increasing the probability that the teams can let Ace Bailey, the forward of Rutgers that had been considered practically safe to be selected with one of the first three selections of the NBA Draft of the NBA of 2025 on Wednesday.
There is also the possibility that Bailey, under the direction of agent Omar Cooper, already has a guaranteed ticket to the NBA in the form of a promise of one of the NBA teams with an early selection in the draft.
“I am only working in basketball, that is the only thing I am concentrated,” Bailey said during the Draft Press Conference in New York on Tuesday. “I can only control what I can control, everyone can think what you want … I am concentrated in basketball.”
The San Antonio Spurs choose secondly after Cooper Flagg, practically officialized as the first choice of the Dallas Mavericks, takes the stage. Only Flagg was classified in front of Bailey in the 2024 class recruitment ranking.
But after the number one choice is made, the possibilities that Bailey is close to Flagg are subject to debate.
From there, time is exhausted for Bailey and its unconventional draft approach. An 18-year-old first year with a season at Rutgers and a Curriculum All-American from McDonald’s before, several NBA teams tried to know Bailey better, player, person and prospect, in the last five weeks. But Bailey canceled all public training with the teams, a position that surprised NBA consecrated players like Paul George. George plays for Philadelphia 76ers, who have the third selection of the draft, and does not seem to believe that the cards are aligned to become colleagues.
“I mean, I think that if it were Ace Bailey I could not get angry if my actions fell,” George said in his podcast this week, directly pointing to “the people around him” that prompted Bailey to cancel training.
“He has canceled all the training. It is as if he had not trained with any team. So I think they gave it much importance because we had scheduled to train it and he canceled the day,” George said in reference to the cancellation of Bailey training with the 76ers. “But he has not trained with any team. But you are not in a position to demand that. First, you have to reach the League.”
Bailey averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in the 2024-25 season. Of course, Bailey will arrive at the League, but general managers can set the conditions on Wednesday.
His university partner Dylan Harper, Base-Escolta and son of the former NBA player Ron Harper, is projected as the second election of the draft by most experts. Harper said that alleged alert signals around Bailey can be minimized and exaggerated.
“If energy goes down, you will recover it. His presence in the locker room is probably the best that can happen to him,” said Harper. “His energy is contagious and you will feel it, you want or not.”
-Field level media
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