Ace Bailey’s knee injury not cause for major concern

Early in the third quarter of Friday night’s game between the Utah Jazz and Sacramento Kings, DeMar DeRozan did what he does best. He drove straight at Jazz rookie Ace Bailey in transition and got to the free throw line.

But Bailey and DeRozan went knee-to-knee and Bailey stayed on the court briefly before his teammates helped him up. A couple of minutes later, he subbed out of the game and never returned.

The Jazz, facing a overwhelmingly disappointing Kings team, were able to get a game in the win column with a pretty easy 128-119 victory thanks to 31 points from Keyonte George, 28 from Lauri Markkanen and Brice Sensabaugh stepping up from the bench with 20.

But there was a bit of worry for Jazz nation as Bailey walked back and forth from the bench to the locker room and flexed and rubbed his leg until he ultimately sat down and watched the win from the sideline with ice packs bandaged to his right knee.

Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, though. There doesn’t seem to be any real concern about Bailey missing significant time because of the knee contusion (the official diagnosis from the Jazz), and when I asked Bailey after the game if he thought he would play on Sunday afternoon against the Rockets, he was emphatic.

“Oh, I’m playing,” he said. “For sure.”

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Jazz head coach Will Hardy wasn’t as willing to commit, saying that those knee-to-knee bruises can cause stiffness in the days that follow and that the team’s medical staff would monitor Bailey on a day-to-day basis.

“He got checked out, tried to warm back up, didn’t feel great, so our medical team made the call to hold him out,” Hardy said. “But it’ll be day-to-day.”

Either way, it’s minor.

Bailey has been a huge bright spot for the Jazz. It’s not that he’s lighting up the box score or stacking stats that are eye-popping by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, it’s that his potential, the incremental growth as each day passes and the hope that he represents for the future has given Jazz fans more of a reason to care about games than they’ve had over the last couple of years.

Despite the Jazz’s record (which improved to 6-12 after Friday’s win) and some of the massive growing pains from some of the other young players, this season has represented what most fans are hoping is a bit of a turning point for the Jazz — the last tanking season before they can give it a real go.

Through it, Bailey has been a beacon of light, representing what could be, and while some of the Jazz’s younger players have had their struggles, some others, such as Sensabaugh, have started to show signs that they could provide utility on a good team.

Regarding Sensabaugh, it hasn’t been perfect. He has had his share of obstacles in finding a rhythm, but he stepped up when called upon on Friday and helped buoy the Jazz.