Draymond Green Says Jazz Rookie Ace Bailey Already Has a ‘Strike’ in His NBA Career

The Warriors star recently weighed in on Bailey's polarizing pre-draft process.

Ace Bailey stands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the fifth pick by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Ace Bailey draft saga is finally over after the Utah Jazz jumped at the chance to draft the Rutgers star with the No. 5 pick on Wednesday night.

The Jazz took Bailey despite his rather unconventional pre-draft strategy in which he decided not to work out for any NBA teams this year, and despite reports stating that Bailey actually preferred three NBA destinations.

Following Paul George's harsh critique of Bailey's pre-draft approach, Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green weighed in as well, delivering a brutally honest message for the incoming rookie.

"I don't necessarily think it hurt. It didn't hurt. You went [fifth], whoop-de-f---ing-do. It didn't hurt that," Green said on his podcast, referring to Bailey's choice to opt out of team workouts. "But you're walking into the NBA with a strike, and I think that's what's most important to understand. You're walking in with a question mark on character. You're walking in with a question mark on work ethic. You're walking in with a question mark on your camp. ... My thing to him and his camp would be, understand where you are."

It's a pretty frank assessment from one of the NBA's most controversial characters in Green, who knows a thing or two about getting strikes himself.

Amid online buzz that Bailey didn't appear pleased to land in Utah, the 18-year-old said he was blessed to be in this situation and relieved to be done with the draft process.

"I can control what I can control," Bailey said, when asked what he would say to people who didn't think he was happy getting drafted by the Jazz. "But my team and me, me focusing on basketball and them doing what they're doing, so it happens.

The newly-minted Jazz rookie seems all but ready to start his NBA career on the right foot next season, with Green's stern warning perhaps filed away in the back of his mind.

"Go in there and be a great rookie," continued Green. "That don't mean don't go play great, go be a great rookie. Don't go in there thinking stuff's going to be your way, because you already got a strike. This league will move on from you fast."

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