Jazz say rookie Ace Bailey will report

Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey is expected to report to the club Saturday, a team representative told ESPN's Jonathan Givony.

"We've had good communication with Ace Bailey and his representatives," a Jazz representative said Friday. "We feel good about everything. Ace and his family are coming to Utah tomorrow. We'll have a press conference Sunday, and a practice Monday.

"This has always been the plan, including for our other rookies, Walter Clayton (Jr.) and John Tonje - to let them go home and collect their belongings, and then fly right to summer league from Salt Lake City."

Bailey was widely considered the third-best player in this year's draft, but he was mired in controversy in the lead-up to Wednesday's first round. The Rutgers product reportedly skipped workouts with multiple teams, including the Philadelphia 76ers.

Bailey's representatives apparently told a team inside the top five not to select their client and said he wouldn't report if drafted, sources told Givony and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

Utah wasn't among Bailey's preferred teams, a source told Givony.

The 6-foot-7 forward said he had "no idea" the Jazz were interested in him moments after the club took him with the No. 5 overall pick.

Bailey's agent, Omar Cooper, maintained that Bailey's predraft process was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Every NBA team watched him work out in Chicago," Cooper previously told ESPN. "He did 18 interviews. Everyone got his medical. They watched him run and jump. They got his measurements. They watched him shoot in drills.

"No one said anything when Davion Mitchell canceled a workout with the Toronto Raptors for the No. 4 pick. No one criticized Evan Mobley when he didn't work out for (the) Cleveland (Cavaliers), and they drafted him anyway."