The dust may have settled on the 2025 NBA Draft, but the noise around Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey is far from over.
After the Jazz selected the highly touted Rutgers product with the No. 5 overall pick, much of the talk has centered not on his game, but his controversial pre-draft approach.
Warriors veteran Draymond Green is the latest to weigh in, and he didn’t hold back.
“I don’t necessarily think it hurt. It didn’t hurt. You went [fifth], whoop-de-f—ing-do. It didn’t hurt that,” Green said on The Draymond Green Show. “But you’re walking into the NBA with a strike, and I think that’s what’s most important to understand. You’re walking in with a question mark on character. You’re walking in with a question mark on work ethic. You’re walking in with a question mark on your camp. … My thing to him and his camp would be, understand where you are.”
Bailey chose not to work out for any NBA teams ahead of the draft and also reportedly had preferred destinations before Utah made the call.
That decision raised eyebrows across the league, with some questioning his maturity and readiness.
When asked if he was disappointed about ending up in Utah, Bailey stayed composed.
“I can control what I can control,” he said. “But my team and me, me focusing on basketball and them doing what they’re doing, so it happens.”
Green issued a challenge to the young rookie heading into his first NBA season.
“Go in there and be a great rookie,” Green said. “That don’t mean don’t go play great, go be a great rookie. Don’t go in there thinking stuff’s going to be your way, because you already got a strike. This league will move on from you fast.”
READ MORE: Ace Bailey Warned Top-Five Team He Wouldn’t Report if Selected