Ace Bailey all smiles after first summer league game with the Utah Jazz

Ace Bailey’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing.

On Saturday night, the 2025 No. 5 overall pick had just finished playing in his first summer league game, so it makes sense that people would want to call him and congratulate him on the Utah Jazz’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The problem was, he was in the middle of his first postgame press conference and sitting next to teammate Brice Sensabaugh as the two fielded questions.

Bailey silenced the phone in his pocket a couple of times, but when it rang again, he tossed it to the side of the room without even glancing at it. He wanted to respect the moment and be present without the distraction.

And despite the fact that Bailey struggled at times offensively Saturday (shooting 3-of-13 overall for eight points on the night), got winded near the end of the game and was often outshined by Sixers rookie and third overall pick VJ Edgecombe, Bailey was all smiles as he recounted how the night played out.

“Man, it was great,” he said with a broad grin. “I mean, and we won too, so that made it a plus. It was just fun.”

1 of 30

2 of 30

3 of 30

4 of 30

5 of 30

6 of 30

7 of 30

8 of 30

9 of 30

10 of 30

11 of 30

12 of 30

13 of 30

14 of 30

15 of 30

16 of 30

17 of 30

18 of 30

19 of 30

20 of 30

21 of 30

22 of 30

23 of 30

24 of 30

25 of 30

26 of 30

27 of 30

28 of 30

29 of 30

30 of 30

The fans at the Huntsman Center gave Bailey a huge ovation as soon as he stepped on the court for pregame warmups and cheered when he threw down a dunk long before the game ever started.

“They made me nervous,” Bailey said with a laugh, “but it was fun though. Coming into an arena that I’ve never played and just feeling the love from the fans, it was a blessing.”

The highlights from the game itself didn’t include Bailey, as Sensabaugh scored 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting, Kyle Filipowski led the Jazz with 22 points, rookie Walter Clayton Jr. dished out six assists to go with nine points and Edgecombe stole the spotlight, leading the Sixers with 28 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and steal.

Even so, Bailey didn’t seem to mind at all. He noted that he’s got to get into better shape to keep up with the NBA pace and that his focus is on doing small stuff that is going to help, learning the Jazz’s system and signs for different reads, making sure he communicates at a high level and is aggressive defensively and on the boards.

“Rebounding wins games,” he said matter of factly.

With wide eyes, Bailey nodded in agreement when Sensabaugh mentioned feeling like a deer in headlights his rookie season and gave a quiet, “for sure,” when Sensabaugh was talking about trying to help get the rookies up to speed.

More than anything, Bailey was happy that his team won. He loved it.

Jazz assistant coach and SLC Summer League head coach Scott Morrison said that the offensive parts of Bailey’s game are not what the Jazz are concerned with right now. Once Bailey gets to a point where he’s doing everything else up to standard, then the Jazz staff will start working on things like shot selection and offensive involvement.

For now, the focus for Bailey will be on being patient, different pick-and-roll reads on defense, knowing when to cut or stay in the corner, how to maintain pressure on the ball on every possession, how to recover defensively in the Jazz’s system and how to communicate effectively.

“We’re more interested in him playing hard and pressuring the ball and spacing in the corner,” Morrison said. “All those things that have nothing to do with scoring or shooting are way more important to for him to establish and get on the court, and then once he established those things where he can help the team in a positive manner without scoring, then we can worry about his shot selection.”

Some assumptions and wild speculation are bound to happen after every summer league game, and if we were going that route, the headline would be ‘VJ Edgecombe steals spotlight from Ace Bailey in Utah.’

But Bailey won’t see it that way because he got to play in front of already adoring fans, and when he looked at scoreboard, his team won and his phone was blowing up.