Ace Bailey's story has more turns than most careers fit into a decade, and he's 20. He left Chattanooga at 16 to chase a bigger stage in Georgia, became Mr. Georgia Basketball, spent one strange season at Rutgers, and then went through the most bizarre pre-draft process in years: his camp steered him away from every team in the top five, and the Jazz took him anyway. A year later he's an All-Rookie pick, the youngest 30-point scorer in franchise history, and, if this preseason is any sign, a defender first.
Chattanooga, and the kid on top of the refrigerator
Airious "Ace" Bailey was born in Tennessee on Aug. 13, 2006, and grew up in Chattanooga, per NBA.com. Basketball runs in the family. His mother, Ramika McGee, played at West Virginia; his father, Richard Bailey, played at Houston; and his great-aunt is Venus Lacy, a Chattanooga legend who won a national title at Louisiana Tech and Olympic gold in 1996. A youth football coach gave him the nickname.
The best look at his childhood is Kevin Armstrong's NJ.com profile from draft week. It describes a hyperactive kid doing standing backflips and climbing on top of the refrigerator. Lacy:
"When he did something he wasn't supposed to do, he knew to run because she didn't play. One day, next thing you know, we saw someone flying to the front yard. Mhm. We knew he could jump from the start."
He played baseball and youth football too. At 8, in a youth "Super Bowl," he broke a long run that his coach, Larry Hunt, still remembers: "He juked two guys, stiff-armed a guy, jumped over a guy and took it all the way to the house." He went to Dalewood Middle, and then spent a year at Boyd-Buchanan, a small Christian school where, per the profile, he sat on couches because he didn't fit in the desks. His coach there, Josh Templeton, called him "Pure joy."
Leaving home for McEachern
In eighth grade Bailey met Omar Cooper, a trainer who ran the Athletes of Tomorrow AAU program outside Atlanta. In November 2022 he left Boyd-Buchanan and enrolled at McEachern High in Powder Springs, Ga., about 100 miles south, where Cooper's own kids had been McDonald's All-Americans, per NJ.com. He didn't love it at first:
"I didn't want to do it. I was homesick. But I had to do it to get here."
Cooper's plan, as he told NJ.com, was simple: "The plan was to keep Ace in the gym 24/7. For the most part, it was sunup to sundown for him to be able to turn the corner." It worked. As a senior he averaged 32.5 points and 15.5 rebounds, was named 2024 Mr. Georgia Basketball, and made the McDonald's All-American Game, per FOX 5 Atlanta. McEachern lost the state final 51-41 to Grayson. His coach, Tremayne Anchrum, expected him to be crushed. Instead, Bailey told him, "Coach, you gonna win about three of these things."
He never forgot where he came from. In August 2025, he donated a new outdoor court to Dalewood Middle, and the city declared "Ace Bailey Day," per Local 3 News. This September he held his first camp back home, at East Hamilton High. "I was once one of these kids," he told WTVC.
One strange season at Rutgers
Bailey picked Rutgers over Kentucky, Kansas, Oregon, and Texas, per NBA.com. Cooper steered that too: Rutgers associate head coach Brandin Knight is an old friend. He arrived with Dylan Harper, another five-star freshman, and Bailey delivered numbers: 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks a game, Big Ten All-Freshman and third-team All-Big Ten, per ESPN. He scored 39 at Indiana with Harper out sick.
The team didn't deliver. Rutgers went 15-17 and missed the NCAA Tournament, and NJ.com describes Bailey fading late, hitting 7 of his final 39 threes. He declared in April and said what most people were thinking: "I'm nowhere close to reaching my potential."
The draft standoff
This is where it got weird. Bailey hired Cooper's LifeStyle Sports Agency, and Cooper isn't a certified NBPA agent. Before the 2025 draft, Bailey didn't work out for any top-five team. He committed to a workout with Philadelphia at No. 3, and it fell through, per The Athletic via The Salt Lake Tribune. The Jazz interviewed him at the combine but never got him to Salt Lake City. ESPN reported that his representatives told at least one top-five team not to pick him and that he wouldn't report if they did, per CBS Sports. The wide belief was that Cooper wanted him at No. 6 in Washington.
Utah took him at No. 5 anyway. Asked whether he knew the Jazz were serious, Bailey said he had "no idea." Then: "I can control what I can control. They feel how they feel." Jazz owner Ryan Smith told Pat McAfee the philosophy was simple: "we want to take the best player on the board and we love Ace Bailey."
Any worry about a holdout lasted about three days. He flew in on June 28, wearing a Jazz T-shirt, and shook Will Hardy's hand first, per The Salt Lake Tribune. At his introduction, asked if he'd ever considered not coming, he said, "Just blessed to be in the position I am," per ESPN. In September 2025 he cut ties with Cooper, and told the Tribune's Andy Larsen: "I feel like I just made the best decision to move forward, to better me and my family and the position that way."
Our take: whatever you thought of the process, the 20-year-old has handled every part of it since draft night like a pro. We hold the rest against the adults around him, not him.
Rookie year: from the bench to 37
He got sick right before the season, opened on the bench, and needed a few weeks to settle, per the Deseret News. Hardy was patient and openly fond of him: "The kid is incredible to be around every single day. He brings a lot of joy and energy to our building every single day."
He finished with 13.8 points and 4.2 rebounds a game, starting 61 of the 72 games he played, and the second half was the real story. On March 5 he scored 32 at Washington (yes, the Wizards) and became the youngest player in Jazz history to reach 30, per the AP via ABC4. Two weeks later he scored 33 against Milwaukee. Hardy, per the Deseret News:
"Ace is continuing to grow before our eyes. The offense is what will be talked about a lot. He's shooting the ball really well right now — 19 3-point attempts is crazy...but I think he's keeping it simple."
Four nights after that he scored 37 against Toronto, going 7-of-10 from three, per KSL. After the All-Star break he averaged 18.3 points and 4.9 rebounds, and in May he made the All-Rookie Second Team, per the Deseret News. The First Team included Harper, Philadelphia's VJ Edgecombe (the pick the Sixers made at No. 3), and Charlotte's Kon Knueppel (No. 4). The draft-night comparisons will follow all of them for a while.
A summer in the weight room
The offseason was about his body. "I've been eating and lifting," he told The Salt Lake Tribune in July, after Cody Williams grabbed his bicep in front of reporters. "The weight trainers — just being in there with them — [they are] pushing me every day with weights I didn't even think I could lift." The Jazz's development message was just as clear. "In every workout ... we start with defense," Bailey said.
Summer league didn't go to plan. Back spasms knocked him out of the July 4 opener in Salt Lake City, and after he returned in Las Vegas he left at halftime, per the Deseret News. The 27 minutes he played may have been his whole summer league. He still reported to camp bulked up, per the Deseret News. In our media-day recap we noted the extra muscle, and Jaren Jackson Jr. singled him out with Peterson and George as the young guys who never stop working.
Preseason: Ace the defender
With No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson starting at guard, Bailey came off the bench in the opener in Boulder and was the most fun player on the floor: 10 points, five rebounds, and a +11 (our recap). He started the Nuggets rematch with Lauri Markkanen sitting out and had 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Against the Spurs he scored only 6 but had 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a +14. He closed the preseason in Phoenix off the bench with 12 points on 3-of-3 shooting, 5-of-6 at the line, 2 steals, and a team-best +7 in 21 minutes. Hardy, per the Deseret News, said his conditioning has him "at a way different level than he was last year":
"He's turning the guy with the ball multiple times, and then you see him use his length to get some of those deflections on ball where he really isn't reaching. He's keeping his feet moving and keeping his defensive posture while sticking his arm out. He's not lunging for the ball."
Bailey sounds fine with it:
"Offense is going to come. I'm not worried about the offensive end. I mean, I can score. It's just mainly just focused on the defensive end, just being the two-way player we need."
Our take: that's the most important quote of camp. A year ago Hardy's first ask, per the Tribune, was that he "use his length defensively to be disruptive." Four preseason games in, he's doing exactly that: a third fewer shots than as a rookie, and more than twice the steals. We broke down what that means for his season, and for your fantasy draft.
Role
Bailey is a 6-9 wing with a 7-foot wingspan (per NJ.com) and a jumper he can get off over anyone. He shot 34.4% from three as a rookie and made 1.9 a game. This preseason he came off the bench in three of four games, guarded the ball at the point of attack, and played in the small lineup with Jackson at center. Hardy hasn't said whether he starts or comes off the bench when the games count. The shot selection still needs work (19 threes in one game is a lot), and so do the handle and the passing.
2026-27 prediction
Around 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.3 steals a game: fewer in November while he guards people off the bench, more by spring once he's closing games. The ceiling is the player from the end of his rookie year, who averaged 20 points over his last 13 games, now with the steals added. Jazz radio analyst Ron Boone said on the Locked On Jazz postcast that if Bailey "plays defense, he'll play 30 this year." We agree. If he's doing that by March, he's in the Most Improved conversation and the Jazz are in the Play-In.
Sources: NBA.com, NJ.com via the Marietta Daily Journal, FOX 5 Atlanta, Local 3 News, WTVC, ESPN (intro), CBS Sports, The Athletic via The Salt Lake Tribune, The Salt Lake Tribune (arrival, summer), Deseret News (Bucks, All-Rookie, back spasms, media day, Spurs), AP via ABC4, KSL, and the Locked On Jazz postcast.