Summer League rarely feels like revenge theater. But when the Jazz’s Ace Bailey faced off against the Sixers’ VJ Edgecombe on Saturday night, it wasn’t just another game. Two top-five picks. One draft week power play. And a rookie still trying to rewrite the narrative. What happened next reignited all the questions from June.
For weeks leading up to the draft, everyone thought Ace Bailey would be the No. 3 pick. He seemed like a perfect fit for a 76ers team that really wanted a talented wing player. But in a bold move that apparently “perplexed” front offices all over the league, Bailey’s people, led by his agent Omar Cooper, tried to push him towards a team they liked better, like Washington or New Orleans. As ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reported, they even canceled a planned workout with the 76ers and said no to invites from several other teams that might have drafted him. It was a clear attempt to control where he ended up, a move that Sixers star Paul George publicly questioned. “You’re not in a position to be making those demands,” George said on his podcast. “Make it to the league first.”
Well, the plan totally backfired. The Sixers, not bothered at all, just went ahead and picked the super athletic Edgecombe at No. 3. And Bailey? He dropped all the way down to No. 5, landing with a Utah Jazz team that reportedly wasn’t on his wish list. You could tell how disappointed he was on draft night; it was painfully obvious.
And on Saturday, in their very first professional game, these two players met again on the court. And it was a complete mess for one of them. Edgecombe looked every bit like a future star. He absolutely dominated the game, putting up stats that were as impressive as they were easy for him: 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. He even had the best dunk of the night!
Bailey, on the other hand, was a total disaster. He ended the game with just 8 points on a terrible 3-of-13 shooting. He looked lost, out of sync, and at times, completely checked out. As one popular tweet put it, he was “playing the most selfish brand of basketball a man can possibly play.” Just picturing him sitting on the bench, fuming after missing seven shots in a row while Edgecombe was putting on a show at the other end – perfectly captured how bad the night was for him. The Jazz might have won the game, 93-89, but the real story was what happened between those two rookies.
(This is a developing story…)
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