Ace Bailey has yet to play a game for the Utah Jazz, but there's a lot of hype surrounding him and for good reason. While expectations shouldn't be too high right away, Bailey's most recent milestone might be a sign of where things go with him and the Jazz: with his number retired in the rafters.
For obvious reasons, no one should set the bar that high for Bailey right now until he showcases that he not only has that potential, but he can bring the Jazz to new heights. Regardless, Bailey's high school, McEachern, has retired his number. Bailey not only stood out for the program but also brought two titles to the school in 2023 and 2024.
ace set a goal, achieved it and tomorrow will get to see his high school jersey officially retired 💜#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/5wOZiWrRAl
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) August 22, 2025
It shows the kind of impact Bailey has on his teams. While many will refute that notion given Rutgers' subpar performance when they had him and Dylan Harper running things last year, a telling statistic shows that their shortcomings as a team were not on Bailey. More than that, said stat would indicate that Bailey's skillset will translate in the NBA.
It's not totally uncommon for an NBA player to see his number get retired by the team he played for, but this is good evidence of both Bailey's talent and his impact. If he can bring that kind of impact to Utah, there's no telling what may come in the near future.
Again, it's putting too much pressure to expect him to be an all-timer right away, and like any exciting youngster, he'll have some growing pains, but stories like these show why the Jazz didn't think twice about taking Bailey when they had the chance.
The Jazz don't have too many retired number in the rafters
Even though the Jazz have been renowned for their consistent success as a franchise, which stems mostly from the John Stockton/Karl Malone era, there aren't too many names that have been retired by the team.
Besides Stockton and Malone, the retired Jazz players and personnel include Jerry Sloan, Frank Layden, Larry H. Miller, Pete Maravich, Adrian Dantley, Marc Eaton, Darrell Griffith, and Jeff Hornacek. Odds are Rudy Gobert will join them in the coming years, and Donovan Mitchell might as well.
This is all to point to that there's plenty of space for Bailey to join these esteemed Jazz alumnus. If Bailey only continues to prove just how good of a basketball player he is in a short enough time, he may see his name in the rafters just like he has with McEachern.