The Sixers should be thanking Ace Bailey and his agent right now.

Instead of having to decide whether or not to draft a polarizing prospect, Bailey has done enough (in my eyes) to be taken off the Sixers draft board all together.

Let’s roll through it all, and try to find some common ground on a player that’s divided this fan base from the moment the Sixers earned the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Earlier this week, intel in ESPN’s latest NBA mock draft referenced Bailey “losing momentum” as a potential Sixers pick after refusing to visit. It also pegged Bailey to the Wizards at No. 6, citing a “clear pathway to stardom” and “shots to be had” early in his rookie deal.

Then today’s news.

So, let’s recap.

We have a player who (along with the presumptive No. 2 pick in the draft) couldn’t make the 68-team NCAA tournament. He has a less-than-ideal shot selection profile. He’s a wing that went from 6-10 to 6-8 when measured at the combine. He isn’t a great free throw shooter.

He reportedly wants to be the lead guy on a team with little talent, just to guarantee himself more shots and “stardom” early in his career. After initially refusing a Sixers visit, he agreed to one a week prior to draft day, only to cancel at the last minute.

We have the most obvious case of a losing basketball player destined to be a losing basketball player that the league has given us in sometime. Just like it was easy to see a winner in Jalen Hurts when he emerged from Alabama and Oklahoma, the opposite can be said for Bailey. I’ve never seen a player more destined to score 23 points per game for the 23-win Wizards than this kid.

He showed the Sixers who he is. Now they should believe him.

Eliot Shorr-Parks joined us yesterday. We argued about where Jalen Hurts belongs on the Top 11 list.

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