Ace Bailey might be the most gifted player in this year’s NBA Draft — and the most divisive.
Not that he divides the Rutgers locker room — he’s universally liked. It’s the scouts, executives and players who see him who are unsure what to make of his future. Many look and see an All-Star waiting to happen, the kind of player who makes his general manager look like a genius. But a few look and see a possible bust, the sort who gets a GM fired.
All see prodigious tools, the kind of potential that would be the No. 1 pick in most drafts without a Cooper Flagg. And some of the best wing players in the NBA think the Rutgers freshman is a pure talent, one who could outdo the Duke star.
“I think Ace Bailey is a little bit more raw talent with still a ton of upside,” Paul George said recently on his Podcast P with Paul George. “I think Cooper Flagg — not to say he doesn’t have upside, he has amazing upside as well — but I think Ace Bailey has a little bit more upside to him. I think Ace Bailey can scratch a little bit more off of his surface than Cooper Flagg can.