The good news for the Utah Jazz is that Ace Bailey showed up.
The early doubts about the Rutgers freshman’s willingness to play for the team that drafted him No. 5 overall in the NBA Draft have been eased, at least for now.
And there’s really no bad news at the moment, but we do have some weird news.
Bailey has chosen his NBA jersey number, and it’s a bit usual: 19.
That’s far from the first digits you think of for an NBA star.
At Rutgers, Bailey wore No. 4. He also wore that in high school, and even when he played for Team USA at the Nike Hoop Summit, according to Sports Illustrated.
The No. 4 is retired with the Jazz for Adrian Dantley.
MORE: Explaining Ace Bailey’s real name
Only five players in Utah history have worn No. 19.
One was a fan favorite, Raja Bell.
The others: Patrick Christopher, Xavier Sneed, Luka Samanic and Svi Mykhailiuk.
Bailey has a chance to put himself on top of that list.
There’s also always a chance this changes. Players sometimes end up with different numbers in Summer League of their rookie year before getting something new for the season. Boston’s Jayson Tatum wore No. 11 initially but is No. 0 in his career now.
The Jazz will be more concerned with Bailey’s ability than his number. But if fans want to support him with Utah uniforms, they’ll have No. 19 on their backs.
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