Potential Top 3 Draft Prospect Ace Bailey is off to a poor start to his NBA career before being drafted.
The 2025 NBA Draft is no second only to the Duke Blue Devils’ Cooper Flag, according to the recent NBA Mock Draft.
However, besides Flag, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey are expected to attract the most attention on draft night.
Harper and Bailey are both seen as talented outlooks, but there is one thing between them that is a brutal differentiator.
Despite being an elite player, Bailey remains the only US-based draft prospect who has yet to do well with the NBA team ahead of the 2025 draft.
He had planned to train with the Philadelphia 76ers, so it was about to change that, but Bailey also released bail for it.
This caused a huge uproar as it threw a fierce call among NBA fans for the former Rutgers star.
“Johnny Davis level prospects. Avoid at any cost,” the fan wrote. Another was added, but “Six dodged the bullet.”
“Ace Bailey is ruining draft stocks right in front of us,” the third NBA fan wrote.
“This kid will be out of the league by 2028,” predicted the fourth fan.
“He’s already a bust without playing a single game,” said an angry fan.
“Who is this guy’s agent? He definitely should be fired,” the sixth fan wrote.
With all that in mind, most fans are sure Bailey is hurting draft stocks by not exercising on either team prior to the draft.
As Jonathan Givony reported, the 76ers are still interested in drafting the Rutgers star despite their falling from pre-draft training with their teams.
However, this pleads for the matter that led to this decision. Well, Jason Dumas from ESPN Radio had the answer.
“Source: Ace Bailey asked for an agreement from Six before committing to the meeting, which now seems unlikely,” Dumas wrote to X.
He added: “As we reported on Friday, there was a lot of attitude for the weeks as the Sixers failed attempts to get an ace in the building.”
Being confident in your skills is one thing. It’s completely different to lose trust in an NBA team, even before they’re drafted into the league.
When in what it is now, Bailey does the latter, but it’s not surprising he falls outside the top five pick.
