Utah Jazz's Ace Bailey Continues to Rise Up NBA Rookie Ladder

The success of Ace Bailey's recent slate with the Utah Jazz has now gotten him to rise even further up the NBA rookie ladder as one of the best first-year talents to hit the league this season.

The latest Kia Rookie Ladder from NBA.com has put Bailey up to the sixth-best name in the class. It's one spot higher than his previous rank of seven from just a week ago, and shows just how his momentum has carried him forward in his past few games.

"The Utah learning curve for Bailey continues to go well: he averaged 5.1 points on 32% shooting in his first eight NBA games vs. 22.8 points on 48.5% in his most recent eight," NBA.com's Steve Aschburner wrote. "And coach Will Hardy said recently: 'I think he’s grown more defensively than offensively."

Above Bailey remained a steady top five, led by Kon Knueppel, Cooper Flagg, VJ Edgecombe, Dylan Harper, and surprisingly, Sacramento Kings’ second-round pick Maxime Raynaud at the fifth slot.

But with 10 games left to go in the regular season before the Jazz rookie’s first year pro comes to a close, there's a world where he can reach even higher from where he is now.

Ace Bailey Still Has Room to Climb Higher

It's been an electric past week for Bailey in a Jazz uniform. In just his past three games, the rookie has averaged a wild 31.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists with over a steal and two blocks a game, shooting impressive splits in the process at 45.6% from the field and 41.9% from three.

His electric scoring reached its peak for this season in Bailey's latest outing against the Toronto Raptors, when he logged a career-high 37 points with 7-10 shooting from three. On the defensive end, his career-high five blocks against the Philadelphia 76ers showed that he's made strong strides on that end throughout year one as well.

Without many key pieces in the rotation for the Jazz, it's allowed Bailey to get a bit of a taste of being the team's number one scoring option in the meantime, while also getting an expanded role on the other end. And since then, he's shined within those opportunities in a big way.

Mar 21, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz guard Ace Bailey (19) and head coach Will Hardy speak after the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

But there's still certainly room for Bailey, in what remains of his 2025-26 campaign, to climb just a bit higher up the ranks to be considered one of the best rookies in his class, more than he has already.

Inevitably, doing so will allow the Jazz wing navigate further up the rookie ladder from just six, and just maybe, squeeze into onto one of the final First-Team All-Rookie spots at the end of the year.

Guys like Flagg, Knueppel, and Edgecombe have essentially locked their spot within those first-team honors at the end of the year. Harper might very well be trending right that way too. But for as long as Bailey can keep showing out as he has been since being handed the keys to the Jazz's offense, his own campaign is far from already written.