The biggest storyline coming into the 2025 NBA Draft was where Ace Bailey would get drafted. With Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper locks to go No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, all eyes were on the 76ers with the third pick after Bailey canceled a workout in Philly and was seemingly steering himself to the Wizards in the sixth pick.
While the Sixers and Hornets passed on him, the Utah Jazz did not, selecting Bailey with the fifth overall pick in a move that surprised many — including Bailey. For his part, Bailey seemed excited about the draft process, and has not made any demands or proclamations about where he wants to go personally. However, his representation, namely manager Omar Cooper, has apparently been very active behind the scenes trying to steer Bailey to a few situations (led by Washington), and reports emerged on Wednesday night that he’d told at least one team Bailey would not report if they picked him.
We don’t know if the Jazz were that team (or if multiple teams were told that), but when Utah’s other first round pick, Walter Clayton Jr., made the trip to Salt Lake City immediately after being drafted and Bailey didn’t, speculation about a standoff between the two sides followed. The Jazz insisted there are no issues and Bailey is expected to be in Utah when summer league training camp begins on Monday.
Much has been made of Cooper’s involvement, but because he isn’t a certified agent with the NBPA, Bailey also has agency representation with GSE Worldwide. Danny Green serves as as his certified agent working alongside Cooper as his manager. On Friday, GSE president Andrew Witlieb went on FOS Today to try and quiet the chatter about Bailey not being happy with going to Utah, calling it a “great situation” for Bailey.
“Yeah, absolutely. He’s thrilled to be going to Utah,” Witlieb said. “Obviously it’s an honor to be selected in the top 5 of the NBA Draft, and we think he can do a lot of great things out there. He certainly should get a ton of playing time and he’ll have a lot of chances to show what he can do, so we think it’s a great situation for him basketball wise.”
When asked about the pre-Draft process, Witlieb pointed to Cooper as the one dictating most of that, but did try to explain Cooper’s point of view.
“This was led by his longtime manager Omar Cooper, who we’re partnering with on this, and Omar really focused more on fit than going third in the Draft kind of thing,” Witlieb added. “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 possible places he could’ve gone.”
So much of the business of basketball is about relationships between teams, players and agents, and it’s clear Witlieb wants this to avoid becoming a significant point of tension. GSE’s basketball division is fairly new, with Bailey and Bub Carrington (who got drafted by the Wizards last year) as their two top clients, and Witlieb certainly doesn’t want this to become an even bigger situation.
If Bailey shows up Monday to summer league camp, that should be the end of this as a major story. There will be questions about how they handled his pre-Draft process, but once he’s in a Jazz uniform, everyone will shift focus to the basketball court. However, if for some reason despite what Witlieb says here about it being a great situation, Bailey isn’t in Salt Lake City on Monday, this will become a much bigger thing.
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