Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey is expected to report to the team on Saturday after an unusual draft process, in which Bailey declined to workout with individual teams ahead of the draft.
A Jazz representative told ESPN’s Jonathan Givony on Friday afternoon that Bailey will join his new team over the weekend with a Sunday press conference.
“We’ve had good communication with Ace Bailey and his representatives. 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.”
Prior to the draft, it was reported that Bailey wanted to land with one of three teams. The Jazz were not one of the team’s on Bailey’s reported list. Despite that, the team took him with the No. 5 overall pick. After the draft, it was reported that one of Bailey’s reps told a team in the top five that it should not select Bailey in the draft. It’s unclear which team was told to stay away from the Rutgers guard.
Bailey was asked about the situation after the Jazz selected him with the No. 5 overall pick on Wednesday. He didn’t seem openly angry about it, instead giving a neutral answer and saying, “I can control what I control. How they feel [is] how they feel.”
The situation has only gotten murkier from there. Following Day 2 of the 2025 NBA Draft, Bailey’s manager, Omar Cooper, declined to comment when asked about the former Rutgers’ star’s future in Utah.
On Friday morning, however, Andrew Witlieb, the president of GSE Worldwide, which represents Bailey, appeared on a Front Office Sports podcast and said Bailey was excited about going to Utah.
“He’s thrilled to be going to Utah,” Witlieb said. “Obviously, it’s an honor to be selected in the top five of the NBA Draft. We think he can do a lot of great things out there.”
The fact that Bailey had yet to report to the Jazz as of Friday morning isn’t necessarily a big deal. Dallas Mavericks No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg waited until Friday to join his new team.
The Jazz’s other pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Walter Clayton Jr., has reportedly already joined the team.
What happens if Bailey doesn’t end up reporting to Utah?
It’s his option, though it would come with some ramifications.
If Bailey opts not to report to Utah, he is ineligible to play in the NBA this season. He also cannot return to play college basketball. He could play overseas, but doing so would mean Utah would retain his draft rights.
If he doesn’t report to Utah and doesn’t play professionally elsewhere, he could re-enter the 2026 NBA Draft, where he still wouldn’t have control of where he goes and runs the risk of being selected lower in the draft order.
Who is Omar Cooper?
Until Friday, Bailey’s relationship with Cooper and GSE Worldwide was also unclear. Some outlets referred to Cooper as Bailey’s agent despite reports Cooper is not a certified agent. Witlieb shed some light on that situation during his podcast appearance, referring to Cooper as Bailey’s manager.
Witlieb said Cooper was focused on finding the best fit for Bailey, and was not necessarily concerned about how high Bailey was picked in the 2025 NBA Draft.
“This was led by Bailey’s long-time manager, Omar Cooper, who we are partnering on with this. And Omar really focused more on fit rather than going third in the draft kind of thing. He wanted some place where Ace could have the best possible basketball fit for his game. And we think Utah is one of the best places he could have gone.”
Cooper is listed as the “C.E.O and Founder of LifeStyle Sports Agency” on his Instagram page. A link to the agency’s website leads to essentially a “coming soon” page.
Despite GSE Worldwide officially representing Bailey, Cooper appears to have served as the main point person for a lot of comments and interviews regarding Bailey leading up to the 2025 NBA Draft.
If Bailey truly doesn’t want to play for the Jazz, he doesn’t have many choices. The team reportedly has no interest in trading Bailey, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
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