Tim BontempsSep 24, 2025, 12:11 PM ET
- Tim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.
Utah Jazz rookie forward Ace Bailey has parted ways with manager Omar Cooper and is in the process of getting new representation, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.
Bailey, the No. 5 pick by the Jazz, made the decision in the wake of a peculiar draft process that included — as ESPN reported in June — his representatives telling a team inside the top five that they didn’t want it to select him and that he wouldn’t report if it did.
At the time, the belief was that Bailey and his team were hoping to guide him to the Washington Wizards, who had the sixth pick. But Utah — in the first draft helmed by newly hired president of basketball operations Austin Ainge — took Bailey fifth, opening a brief window where it was unclear whether he would report.
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The former Rutgers star wound up reporting without incident and took part in summer league games with the Jazz.
Bailey averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds for Rutgers and is expected to compete for a starting spot in Jazz coach Will Hardy’s lineup.
The Athletic first reported Bailey’s decision to part with Cooper.
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