WASHINGTON — A losing streak snapped. A Washington Wizards debut spoiled. And a career night for rookie Ace Bailey.
The Utah Jazz were in the nation’s capital Thursday on the second night of a back-to-back after losing in Philadelphia Wednesday night. The game in Washington marked the Wizards debut for Trae Young, who has missed more than 16 weeks this season and had played in just 10 games for the Atlanta Hawks prior to the trade that brought him to the Wizards.
Young, a four-time All-Star, scored just 12 points in the 122-112 loss to Utah.
Meanwhile, the Jazz were boosted in their efforts against the Wizards by a career-best 32 points from Bailey — who became the youngest Jazz player in franchise history to score at least 30 points in a single game — as well as a career-high 27 points from Isaiah Collier.
“This is Ace’s best game as a pro on the offensive side,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “A lot of it had to do with the 3-point line. He made a lot of good reads, especially coming off handoffs on the second side and finding those pocket 3s and knocking them down tonight, so I was happy for him. It’s a good win for our group.”
Bailey went 7 of 11 from 3-point range against the Wizards and 12 of 19 from the field overall.
The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Jazz, who improved to 19-44 on the season.
Both Bailey and Collier had previous career-highs of 25 points going into the contest, but with all of the team’s highest scorers sidelined (Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., Walker Kessler, Keyonte George), the points were going to have to come from somewhere.
On top of a new career high in points for Collier, he also dished out 11 assists.
As Bailey navigates the remainder of the 2025-26 season, Hardy said he wants the rookie to focus on graduating away from some of the more cliché rookie mistakes.
“One that stands out in particular — it seems like a small thing — fouling jump shooters," Hardy said. “We’d like to try to eliminate three or four plays a night that, as you go on in your career, they’re just sort of no-nos.
“But Ace’s conditioning has gotten so much better, he’s working really hard on his body, he’s learning a lot and he’s learning on the fly, and so I think he’s handled himself great throughout this season.”
The Jazz have 19 games left in the regular season. Their next stop comes on Saturday against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.