Rutgers' star Ace Bailey sends clear message to NBA teams amid draft combine

Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Ace Bailey is considered to be one of the top picks of the 2025 NBA draft. After a stellar one-and-done stint of college basketball, Bailey made his declaration to this year's draft known on April 22 through his official Instagram account.

Currently, the freshman star is going through the draft combine, which runs through from May 11 to 18. During a recent media availability on Thursday, reporter Chase Hughes asked Bailey about how he can constantly get tough shot attempts to fall. The 6-foot-10 standout responded by sending a clear message to NBA teams looking to snag him.

"Workouts, workouts. I work out a lot, I work the shots a lot," Bailey said. "I mean the shots I worked on in the workouts are shots that I do in the game. So, it might be a bad shot to you, you don't work on it. I work on it, so that's how I look at it.

"I mean workout consistently. I mean same thing, two people guarding me in the workout, three people guard me in the workout, creating space to get my shot off," he added.

In his lone year of collegiate hoops for coach Steve Pikiell's squad in the 2024-2025 season, Bailey averaged stellar numbers of 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.3 blocks per contest, helping to an overall record of 15-17, 8-12 during Big Ten conference play this year.

Ace Bailey projected to be No. 3 pick in 2025 NBA draft to Philadelphia 76ers

Per ESPN, Ace Bailey is projected to be selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. Coach Nick Nurse's team acquired the No. 3 selection through the 2025 draft lottery on Monday in Chicago, Illinois, wherein the 76ers had a 10.6% chance of getting the pick heading into it.

This means that Bailey is slated to join a Philadelphia squad led by 2023 NBA regular season MVP Joel Embiid and 2024 Most Improved Player Tyrese Maxey. The 76ers had a disappointing season overall in the 2024-2025 campaign due to injuries to the aforementioned players, newly-signed star Paul George and rookie Jared McCain, as the team finished as just the 13th seed in the East.

About the author

Koby del Rosario is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda who took up BS in Advertising Management at De La Salle University, one of the big "four" universities in the Philippines. Koby has over four years of experience with Complex PH, M2.0 Communications, The LaSallian, Daily Tribune, and Time Attack Manila.

Koby's favorite college team would have to be the North Carolina Tar Heels. Apart from being MJ's alma mater, Koby has always been fond of the Jordan silhouettes that release in the school's colors (being a sneakerhead himself).

His past favorite college players would have to be Russell Westbrook (UCLA) and Markelle Fultz (Washington). With Russ, his 1-2 punch with Kevin Love during their UCLA days was something Koby marveled at as Russ became his favorite player to watch post-Kobe.

Besides playing basketball, Koby enjoys nightlife, collecting sneakers, and playing video games. Apart from hosting parties and taking pictures for parties/bars/clubs, Koby is learning to DJ as a hobby with all sorts of house and hip-hop as the main genres.

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Edited by Veer Badani