The Jazz have put out a press release officially announcing that they’ve signed first-round draft picks Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr. to their rookie scale contracts.
Bailey, considered by many draft experts to be the third-best prospect in this year’s draft behind only Cooper Flagg and Rutgers teammate Dylan Harper, didn’t conduct any workouts during the pre-draft process as his camp appeared focused on getting him to a specific destination.
While Utah wasn’t believed to be that destination of choice, the Jazz’s front office decided Bailey’s upside was worth the risk, sight unseen — he didn’t make it past the team’s pick at No. 5 overall, and after some speculation about whether or not he’d report, he arrived in Utah as planned.
In 30 games for the Scarlet Knights last year, the 18-year-old averaged 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per contest, with shooting splits of .460/.346/.692.
Assuming he signed for the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale, which is a safe bet, Bailey will earn $9.1MM in 2025/26, and will net $41.2MM across the balance of his first four seasons.
[RELATED: Rookie Scale Salaries For 2025 NBA First-Round Picks]
Outside of the lottery, the Jazz traded up for the draft rights to Florida guard Clayton with the No. 18 pick. The 6’2″ guard is set to make nearly $4MM as a rookie, and will earn a total of $19.3MM over the course of his deal.
Clayton, a consensus first-team All-American who helped lead the Gators to the NCAA title last season, logged averages of 18.3 PPG, 4.2 APG, 3.7 RPG and 1.2 SPG in 39 healthy games. He posted a shooting line of .448/.386/.875.
How do you take Clayton over Kasparas …….
They get paid for this ????
Rarely agree with you but I do on this one. Seems they get hung up on what year a player will contribute bigger minutes. Kasparas maybe 2-3 years away, Clayton maybe 1-2. Doesn’t seem much of a difference and Jakucionis the higher ceiling. Maybe they prove us all fools? We’ll see