The NBA just gave Ace Bailey all the motivation to dominate from here on out

Ace Bailey started out the season slowly, but he has looked the part of a future franchise player for the Utah Jazz. With his gradual improvement with each passing game, the one thing the NBA shouldn't give him is motivation to prove himself even more. After the NBA's first Rookie of the Month results, they just did.

The NBA announced that Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg have won Rookie of the Month in their respective conferences.

Okay, fair enough. Flagg was the No. 1 pick whom the Jazz unashamedly tanked for around this time last year. Knueppel has been awesome for Charlotte this year, plus he's in the East, so that has no bearing on what happens with Bailey when it comes to these awards (unless Utah trades him to the East).

However, the real motivation Bailey has is the confirmation that he wasn't even nominated for the award.

This isn't a shot at the likes of Coward, Queen, or Fears, but Bailey should have been among the nominees. His overall numbers won't blow anyone away, but the contrast between how he fared in October and November is stark enough that voters should have seen how much progress he has made.

His October numbers were 4.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists while shooting 25% from the field and 16.7% from three. November was different though, and he was fantastic, averaging 12.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists while shooting 51.5% from the field and 39.3% from three.

Because Bailey's October performance wasn't much to brag home about, that may have been why he wasn't a nominee. Luckily, that's all behind him and the Jazz, and shouldn't be a problem going forward.

As the Jazz continue to trust him, Bailey's numbers will go up

Part of why Bailey's numbers weren't too impressive to begin with was because Will Hardy elected to bring himself up slowly when he first entered the league. Utah gradually gave him a bigger role, and Bailey rewarded their faith in him.

With how much he's proven already, his role should get bigger. Now that the NBA has shown that they haven't taken notice of how good he's been, he'll have even more motivation to show Utah they should give him a bigger role.

Now the odds of Bailey winning Rookie of the Year aren't exactly high because of how good this rookie class is. However, that shouldn't stop him from running a strong campaign for it. Now that the NBA didn't even acknowledge him as one of the West's best rookies, he has the push to get the award.