Ace Bailey Makes Utah Jazz History Unseen in Nearly 50 Years

It's been a historic recent stretch of games for Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey, to the point where he's been putting up some recent statlines that the franchise hasn't seen in nearly five decades.

In Bailey's last three games of his rookie season, he's scored at least 25 points, capped off by his latest outing against the Toronto Raptors on the Jazz's home floor, where he posted a career-high 37 points in the process.

According to a post from the NBA's X account, Bailey's last three games where he's scored a combined 95 points is the most in a three-game stretch that the Jazz have seen a rookie achieve that since Darrell Griffith's 1980-81 season; only the second year that the team was even located in Utah.

"Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey continued his emergence with a career-high 37 points against the Toronto Raptors last night, marking his third straight game with 25 or more. His 95 points over that span are the most by a Jazz rookie in a three-game stretch since Darrell Griffith in the 1980-81 season. The 19-year-old forward-guard is averaging 17.3 points over his last 30 games."

BAILEY BREAKOUT: Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey continued his emergence with a career-high 37 points against the Toronto Raptors last night, marking his third straight game with 25 or more. His 95 points over that span are the most by a Jazz rookie in a three-game stretch since… pic.twitter.com/JTwi8IhJNq
— NBA (@NBA) March 24, 2026

The feat is yet another strong checkpoint in Bailey's first year, in which the rookie has seemingly gotten better and better with each month that's passed.

In his latest March slate of games, Bailey has played in 10 games to average 21.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists; better than any other month's production he's seen so far this year, and doing it all in an average of less than 30 minutes a night.

Ace Bailey Continues Showing How High His Ceiling Can Be

As the Jazz have been without multiple key pieces in their lineup throughout the past few weeks, it's given a golden opportunity to Utah's top-five pick to take the keys for the meantime as their number-one scoring option on the floor.

And in that process, he's had the ability to not only score in a variety of ways in multiple areas of the floor, but has presenting big improvements on the defensive side of the ball as well; showing that as good as he's been scoring the ball, there are real signs that the Jazz have a budding two-way player on their hands, rather than strictly an offensive-focused wing.

Mar 23, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward Ace Bailey (19) dunks the ball against the Toronto Raptors during the second quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images | Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images

Even in the midst of Bailey's recent impressive scoring stretch, it's been on the defensive side of the ball that Jazz head coach Will Hardy has seen the most development from his rookie in year one.

"It's harder to discuss an individual's defense in these settings because there are fewer things you can really measure," Hardy said after facing the Philadelphia 76ers. "I truly believe that he's grown more on the defensive side of the ball than he has offensively, but offense is so much easier to talk about."

"He's moving towards a two-way player. He's not there yet, but that's the goal."

Will Hardy on Ace Bailey's defensive development after his career-high 5 blocks vs. the 76ers:

🗣️"I truly believe that he's grown more on the defensive side of the ball than he has offensively, but offense is so much easier to talk about..." pic.twitter.com/7SPiPK8Hhn
— Utah Jazz On SI (@JazzOnSI) March 22, 2026

With just 10 games left on the Jazz's schedule, Bailey's rookie campaign is now reaching its end, but he's certainly not going into the offseason quietly.

Expect to see more explosive performances from Bailey in the coming weeks for as long as the Jazz's lineup is stuck shorthanded, which could add on even more impressive historic implications to his resume, depending on how well those outings pan out.