- The Utah Jazz drafted Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr. in "best-case scenario."
- Jazz president Austin Ainge said no trade talks for Jaylen Brown have occurred.
- Bailey and Clayton Jr. are seen as talented, with Bailey's scoring and Clayton's shooting praised.
SALT LAKE CITY — Two weeks ago, the Utah Jazz sat down and tried to map out the draft.
The top two were just about set in stone, and they started to get a pretty good idea of how the rest of the top five would go. In the end, they came away from the exercise with two names circled for their picks: Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr.
On Wednesday night, that best-case scenario became reality.
The Jazz took Bailey with the No. 5 pick and then traded up from No. 21 to No. 18 to grab Clayton.
"These were the two guys we really wanted," Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge said.
Not on Utah's radar: moving the No. 5 pick for Boston's Jaylen Brown, as some reports had stated leading into the draft.
"I don't like to confirm or deny rumors, just as a policy, but I will this time," Ainge said. "No, that hasn't happened. No conversations that way."
Instead, the Jazz kept building their young team through the draft by landing a polarizing but potential star in Bailey. The 18-year-old forward might be the draft class' best pure scorer, but there are questions over his over reliance on midrange shots and his, to be blunt, awful shot diet.
His pre-draft process didn't help matters, either. The former Rutgers star didn't work out for any NBA team — a move that drew speculation that he was trying to fall to a specific team.
Neither of those things worried the Jazz, though. They met with Bailey at the draft combine in May and interviewed his teammates, coaches and those close to him, and they didn't discover anything of concern about him as a person.
As for his play, Utah had seen him plenty of times in games and on film to know who he was as a player. The Jazz saw an "extremely talented" shot maker who was big, long and athletic — the type of player that is often hard to find.
"His scoring gets a lot of attention, deservedly so — he's very skilled for his size — but watching a lot of film on him, I was impressed with his defensive effort and particularly his rebounding lot of weak side block shots, and his joy and energy for the game," Ainge said. "We do a lot of background calls and work on guys, and everyone loves being around Ace.
"He's fun, smiles every day, just a breath of fresh air in the gym."
Sure, Utah wasn't his — or at least his agent's — preferred choice, but Ainge said there wasn't any hesitation to take him when he was still available at No. 5.
"He's great," Ainge said. "We were able to speak with him. He was super excited; we're super excited. We're expecting a very bright future."
It's a future that also includes Clayton — a player that has been on Ainge's radar long before he got to Utah.
Heck, his former team already knew that Clayton was likely heading to the Jazz.
"I could've told you two years ago he was gonna trade up to get Clayton," Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens joked to local reporters following the draft.
And Ainge, armed with plenty of second-round ammunition, didn't want to take a risk that the former Florida guard wouldn't be there when Utah's No. 21 pick came around.
"It's impossible to know who likes a guy and where they're going to go," Ainge said.
So when the middle of the first round came along, the Jazz started making calls; they found a partner with Washington at No. 18.
The Jazz sent the Wizards picks No. 21 and No. 43, along with two future second-round picks for No. 18. In the end, the Jazz traded three second-rounders to move up three spots and grab Clayton.
"We were worried, so we just were trying to move up, kind of all along the line until at 18," Ainge said. "Washington got an offer they liked, and we made the swap there."
So what stands out about Clayton?
"He is tough, smart, an amazing shooter, athletic, and mature," Ainge said of the most outstanding player of the 2025 Final Four. "It's been really fun for me to watch his progression. He's really gotten better as kind of an athletic kid learning the point guard position throughout college. He just got better and better and better at it every year. And that really impressed me."
