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NBA Was 'Concerned' About Jazz's Plan to Use Ace Bailey's Advisor's Son as Guest Coach
The Utah Jazz took a bit of a risk, from all appearances, with their first pick of the 2025 NBA draft. They selected Ace Bailey, a talented scorer out of Rutgers who clearly oozes potential as a prospect. But Bailey's pre-draft process was rough and ESPN reported immediately after his selection that the Jazz were not a "preferred destination" for the 19-year-old, which Bailey refuted shortly thereafter. Still, it is not exactly a great start to his tenure in Utah.
To help ease Bailey's transition to the NBA the Jazz came up with a plan to bring a familiar face to Utah. Before Bailey's first NBA minutes in Summer League play it was reported the franchise planned to add Omar Cooper Jr. as an unpaid guest coach to the Summer League coaching staff; his father, Omar Cooper, is Bailey's advisor and has been referred to as the player's agent, though he is reportedly not certified by the NBPA in that capacity, according to the Deseret News.
It turns out the NBA was not too fond of how that looked. Per ESPN's Tim McMahon, the Jazz nixed the plan to hire Cooper's son in an unpaid capacity after the league raised concerns with Utah's front office.
"The Jazz intended to help ease Bailey's transition to the NBA by having Omar Cooper Jr. -- the son of Bailey's advisor who just finished his career at McNeese State and plans to enter coaching -- serve as an unpaid guest coach during summer league," McMahon wrote on Saturday night. "That plan was called off after the league office contacted the Jazz to raise concerns, sources told ESPN."
Bailey made his Summer League debut on Saturday for the Jazz. He struggled from the field, shooting 3 of 13 to total eight points, but had a few highlights that made it clear why Utah is high on his talents.
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Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.