In an encouraging development for the rebuilding Utah Jazz, rookie Ace Bailey’s defense quickly is catching up to his impressive offensive game.
Bailey will look to continue his growth when the Jazz face the Toronto Raptors on Monday night in Salt Lake City.
Toronto (39-31) is in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, while Utah (21-50) has been eliminated from playoff contention in the West and has lost five of its last six games.
The Jazz knew all about Bailey’s offensive upside when they selected the talented wing with the fifth overall pick in 2025 NBA Draft, out of Rutgers.
In recent weeks, the 6-foot-9 Bailey has starred on both ends of the court.
One game after scoring a career-high 33 points against the Milwaukee Bucks, Bailey had 25 points, seven rebounds and a season-high five blocks in a 126-116 home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.
Bailey became the second-youngest player in NBA history to score 25-plus points with five or more blocks in a game. Kevin Durant is the only player younger than Bailey to achieve the feat.
Jazz coach Will Hardy continues to be pleased with Bailey’s all-around play. Bailey has averaged 19.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists in his last nine games while shooting 45.7% from the field and 40.7% from 3-point range.
“Ace is an incredible athlete, and it’s not just offensively,” Hardy said of Bailey, who is averaging 13.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for the season. “Like, his ability to cover ground and close out his ability to guard the ball. I truly believe that he’s grown more on the defensive side of the ball than he has offensively.”
Bailey said defense has been a primary focus during his rookie campaign.
“With the team we’re looking to have, being a defender, it’s gonna be a very big role, especially if you wanna stay on the court. And if you wanna win, you’ve got to, and I want to win, so I have to play offense and defense,” Bailey said.
Utah is looking to avenge an 107-100 road loss to Toronto on Feb. 1.
The Jazz could use another strong outing from guard Kennedy Chandler, who scored a career-high 19 points in his team debut on Saturday after being signed to a 10-day contract.
The Raptors, meanwhile, will play the second night of a back-to-back set after losing 120-98 to the host Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
Scottie Barnes scored 17 points for Toronto, which trailed by as many as 31 points and never led in the contest. Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said he was baffled by his team’s lack of competitiveness.
“I wish I knew the answer to that one,” Rajakovic said. “I tried everything. I tried encouraging. I tried not encouraging. I tried a lot of things, and we failed. We did not have it tonight.”
Brandon Ingram was held to six points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field after averaging 25.8 points over his last five games, but Rajakovic said after the game that there was plenty of blame to go around.
“It’s a whole team. It cannot be just one player. We win as a team, we lose as a team. We never want to point out a player,” Rajakovic said. “I thought that our whole team did have enough urgency for the game, and enough respect for our opponent (Sunday).”
Toronto hopes to have forward Collin Murray-Boyles available as soon as Monday. The promising rookie has missed the past 11 games with a left thumb sprain.
