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When it comes to the 2025 NBA Draft, few prospects have been as highly debated as Ace Bailey.
Cooper Flagg? Unquestioned top pick since before the 2024-25 NCAA season even began. Dylan Harper? The top guard in this year's class with the potential to become a team's lead guard well into the future.
But Bailey? Some see a massive 3-and-D wing who can create his own offense in addition to playing off of his teammates. And others? Well, they see a giant ball hog who takes poor shots and may never reach his NBA potential.
Fortunately for Bailey, he's a borderline lock to be drafted in the top-4 of this year's class, but which team provides the best fit for the Rutgers product's unique style of play, warts, and upside? Fortunately, considering how effortlessly he could fit onto many, if not most, of the rosters around the NBA, it's not hard to find more than a few.
Ace Bailey fit 1: The Philadelphia 76ers
As fate would have it, the best fit for Bailey in the 2025 NFL Draft might just be the team he's most likely to be drafted by: the Philadelphia 76ers.
Yes, some fans don't like the way Bailey plays the game of basketball, seemingly looking to take the toughest shot imaginable in every ISO possession he gets himself into, but those concerns are simply the sort of nits a fanbase will pick when seemingly nothing has gone their way for years on end.
On paper, Bailey checks every box the 76ers could look for. He's got forward height regardless of whether he officially measures in at 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9, or 6-foot-10, can shoot the ball from anywhere on the court, and most importanty of all, can defend opposing forwards right out of the gates, which should allow him to remain on the court at any point in the game. Bailey can play small forward next to Paul George, shooting guard next to PG13 and Guerschon Yabusele, and even as a power forward next to Joel Embiid without surrendering too much height to an opposing frontcourt.
Will Bailey need to adjust his game to being a 3-and-D wing who can provide additional value as a rollman and in transition? Yes, at Rutgers, Bailey was able to indulge in some bad tendencies that likely won't fly at the NBA level. But if he's willing to adjust his game for the sake of the team, there's no reason why Bailey couldn't become a top-8 player for the 76ers both in 2025 and heading into the future, when his role could grow as the older players around him bow out of active action.
Ace Bailey fit 2: The Charlotte Hornets
Where Bailey would be forced to adjust his game to the 76ers' pre-existing stars in Philadelphia, the pride of Rutgers would be able to keep his Scarlet Knights habits alive and well in Charlotte, where young players are afforded a much longer runway to figure their games out without having to necessarily win games with regularity.
As things presently stand, the Hornets have a number of quality young players – drafting in the lottery for years will do that for you – but what they don't have is a starting five they can reliably count on moving forward, with LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller headlining a group with long-term questionmarks on the wings and at center.
Like Ball and Miller, Bailey is a good shooter and a capable scorer, with incredible charisma and unreal upside. Right out of the gates, Bailey could be a starter and a star for the Hornets, and could help to headline a homegrown Big 3 as the Chris Bosh to his teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
For a team that has been desperate for an identity to build around besides Ball, who is already on a max contract, Bailey would be an ideal addition to the team, even if it's unlikely he will end up in the Queen City unless they trade up.
Ace Bailey fit 3: The San Antonio Spurs
Unlike the Hornets, the San Antonio Spurs will have a chance to draft Ace Bailey once the Dallas Mavericks do the expected and make Cooper Flagg the top overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
The problem? Bailey's college teammate, Dylan Harper, is also considered one of the top players in this year's class, and the Spurs might just prefer his fit with their roster, even if the team already has a pair of quality guards in De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle.
From a pure fit standpoint, Bailey would actually look really good playing alongside the Spurs' current core, with the 6-foot-10 forward capable of playing next to franchise cornerstone Victor Wembanyama, whether “The Alien” is playing power forward or center on any given snap. He'd be a quality fit with the team's incumbent wings, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, and Jeremy Sochan, and would be able to provide two-way support for players like Fox and Castle when they are running the point.
Harper, by contrast, is another dynamic combo guard who can score from all three levels and lead an offense well into the future.
Would a Harper-Castle-Wemby trio work into the future? Absolutely, especially with so many quality players around them, but if the Spurs really believe in Fox as a franchise cornerstone moving forward, then Bailey is an incredibly easy fit with the rest of the team's players too, and would likely shine as the first draft pick of Gregg Popovich in his new role.
