Ace Bailey Rising Above 2025 Draft Class in Preseason

There’s been a myriad of impressive rookie performances so far through preseason.

Cooper Flagg saw a stellar half of play versus the defending-champion Thunder. Players like Ben Saraf and Jase Richardson have looked like standout role players for their respective teams. And a number of lottery picks have ripped off impressive performances featuring scoring, passing, defending and everything in between.

Despite that, Jazz forward Ace Bailey stands head and shoulders above the rest through two games.

His debut was fiery enough, but he followed that up with an equally impressive performances.

In his opener, he faced longtime superstar Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets, and looked like his team’s best player in leading the Jazz in scoring.

Across 31 minutes, he scored 25 points on 11-for-16 shooting, hitting two triples and adding six rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. He put himself in advantageous positions often, and used his crystal-clear jumper time and again to put points on the board for Utah.

His second performance would be equally riveting. He again went for 20 points, this time doing so on 8-for-13 shooting, against shooting 40% from three with two makes. He managed to contribute in other areas too, adding seven boards, two steals and one assist.