How Devin Booker Gave Ace Bailey His True 'Welcome to the NBA' Moment

Ace Bailey says Devin Booker helped welcome him to the league.

Oct 27, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) drives against Utah Jazz guard Ace Bailey (19) during the first quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker has many accomplishments to his resume, which includes a run to the 2021 NBA Finals on top of multiple All-Star and All-NBA nods through his career.

He can add being a "welcome to the league" moment, too.

No. 5 overall pick Ace Bailey, recently appearing on The Old Man and The Three podcast, said playing against Booker gave the Utah Jazz guard a quick realization.

Ace Bailey Dives Into Devin Booker Handing Him Welcome to NBA Moment

"Will [Hardy] took me out in the first five minutes, I wasn't playing defense. I was like, Wow, if you don't play defense you can't play at all." Bailey said.

"I was guarding D Book [Devin Booker]. It was Phoenix. The first game. Of course [he was cooking]. Me watching film, I'm thinking film was enough. I should have prepared the night before and the night before that. It's D Book so it's like, me coming in not knowing the physicality of the game -- it's just different. I had to adjust to that."

Full clip:

Ace Bailey's "Welcome to the NBA Moment" so far was getting pulled out of the game immediately because he wasn't playing defense against Devin Booker 💀 pic.twitter.com/zoybwfsyjG

— TheOldManAndTheThree (@OldManAndThree) December 26, 2025

Bailey was right, as he played exactly five minutes coming off the bench in the first quarter against Phoenix before Hardy subbed him back out. Thankfully for Bailey, the Jazz maintained massive leads before and after he was in action.

Bailey hasn't put up quite eye-popping numbers to begin his rookie season, though NBA insider Zach Lowe says he's still impressed the organization.

"Everybody in Utah, coaches across the board, love Ace Bailey. They have been so impressed with how hard he plays. He's playing hard on defense, not making as many mistakes defensively as you would think an untested rookie would make," he said.

"They're throwing him in the pick and roll a little bit as a screener and he's made some nice plays out of that as a roll passer kind of guy. I think you have to be happy despite the numbers being underwhelming."

Bailey scored six points in their two matchups played against Phoenix this season, both of which came back in October.

The Suns and Jazz have split their season series 1-1. They'll meet again for a final time on March 28.