Lost in all the excitement that’s to come for the Utah Jazz next season and beyond is the development of Ace Bailey. Bailey hasn’t dominated in his rookie year, but last night served as a good reminder of the franchise cornerstone he can become not too long from now.

The Jazz will already be loaded next season, so Bailey taking a leap wouldn’t just be gravy to them. It would practically ensure that they would run the West. After his performance last night, Bailey was compared to the likes of Kevin Durant and Paul George by former NBA player Chandler Parsons.

Ace Bailey has SUPERSTAR potential 🤩

The rookie scored a career-high 32 points last night against the Wizards. @ChandlerParsons sees some Kevin Durant and Paul George in his game 😳 pic.twitter.com/rs8MzFp1An

— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) March 6, 2026

Sure, some of Bailey’s draftees, like Kon Knueppel, have looked better than him, but it’s only been one season with plenty of time left to go. It seems ridiculous now, but after their first seasons, Stephen Curry and James Harden were outshined by the likes of Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings in 2009.

Jazz fans should be aware that basketball is not played in a vacuum, meaning Bailey ascending to an MVP-like player will simply add to the production they’ll see from Keyonte George, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. However, him taking that next step could vault the Jazz to a level potentially higher than the one they had for a decade with Karl Malone and John Stockton.

Bailey’s ascension may need a minute

Bailey has shown his talent as a star while also highlighting how raw he is. No one’s complained at all about his rookie year as a whole despite not putting up the same numbers as someone like Knueppel, not just because he’s raw, but because his character has turned out to be so much better than many had feared back when Utah first drafted him.

Plenty of all-stars needed time to really find their footing as stars before they put it together. Jazz fans have seen this from alumni like Gordon Hayward, who didn’t make his first All-Star team until Year 7, or Lauri Markkanen, who needed the Jazz themselves to help turn him into a star.

Bailey reaching a level similar to Durant is higher than prime Hayward was, and many forget how good the latter was at his peak as a Jazzman. Setting the bar as high as Durant is pretty high, so even if Bailey doesn’t reach it but reaches one similar to Hayward, no one in Utah should consider that a disappointment in the slightest.

Luckily, he’s on the one team that, even if their plan is to make the playoffs, has enough firepower to wait it out until he reaches that level. Utah already has enough firepower to be an excellent team for the next several years. If Bailey becomes a franchise player, this era could last for well over a decade.