The Utah Jazz's ceiling this season depends in part on whether second-year forward Ace Bailey can take a leap.
Bailey was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft out of Rutgers. He's a lanky frontcourt player with a lot of natural scoring talent.
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As a rookie, he rounded into form by the end of the year to put up some solid first-season numbers.
This season, Bailey is being counted upon as a full-time starter, which should help his consistency.
Despite that, Bailey was anything but consistent on Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers
in a game the Jazz led for a long time before losing.
Bailey came out red hot, and then he pretty much vanished.
Ace Bailey's Disappearing Act
Bailey was brilliant in a wild first quarter on Sunday. The Jazz jumped out to a 47-29 lead on the Lakers.
In that first quarter, Bailey had 15 points.
He made a shot in the lane, then a 15-foot jumper, then another close-range basket, then got a dunk, then made a floater, then drilled a right wing 3-pointer, then tipped in a rebound just before the buzzer.
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Bailey grabbed seven rebounds to go along with his 15 fast points. It seemed like this would be a breakout night against the Lakers for the youngster.
In a way, that first quarter spoke volumes, but so did the next two quarters.
Bailey didn't score a point in the second or third quarters. He missed one shot and had one turnover in the second quarter. He didn't attempt a shot in the third quarter despite playing the first eight minutes of the frame.
Bailey scored just once more, a follow dunk with 2:43 remaining. It was a big play at the time, pulling the Jazz within 121-119, but they fell late by a 132-123 final.
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There were long stretches of the game where you could only ask, what's Ace doing?
What Happened?
It's not uncommon for young players to have rough stretches, but this does have a tinge of Bailey's Rutgers career to it.
Bailey was one of the best players on the floor in every college basketball game he played, teaming up with Dylan Harper, who the Spurs
would pick No. 2 in 2025. But with both those players, Rutgers had a sub-.500 record and missed the NCAA Tournament.
The question about Bailey wasn't whether he had talent, but whether he could put the package together efficiently in a way that would impact winning.
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When he's going right, he's an exciting player, capable of scoring 15 points in a quarter against a high-caliber team.
But when Bailey stops scoring, he finds it tough to influence the game in other ways. And too often early in his NBA career, Bailey has gone whole quarters or two quarters without scoring.
There's still plenty of time for Bailey to grow into consistency, but he doesn't have it yet.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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