Kevin Durant Hypes 'Pure, Pure Talent' Ace Bailey; Praises Dylan Harper, Rutgers CBB

Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant is maintaining a keen eye on the young players who are knocking on the door of the NBA.

Asked about Rutgers freshman Ace Bailey, Durant said he's a "pure, pure talent" who uses his 6'10" frame to be unguardable as a scorer at times. The 14-time All-Star added that Bailey and Scarlet Knights teammate Dylan Harper "are playing some great ball."

Rutgers scored a major coup when it signed Bailey and Harper, who were second and third respectively in 247Sports' composite rankings for the 2024 class. They're also the two highest-ranked recruits for the program dating back to 2000.

Talent alone doesn't guarantee success, especially when a team is leaning on freshmen to the extent the Scarlet Knights are. Sure enough, they've started the season 7-5 and split their first two Big Ten contests.

But Bailey and Harper have affirmed their status as two of the top talents eligible for the 2025 NBA draft.

Harper is the team's leading scorer with 23.3 points per game on 52.1 percent shooting, and he's dishing out 4.2 assists per game. Bailey is averaging 17.6 points and displaying some solid range for his size with 1.4 made three-pointer per contest at a 33.3 percent clip.

Harper was the No. 2 overall pick in the most recent mock draft from Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman, while Bailey went one pick later.

On Harper, Wasserman wrote he "has begun to separate himself from the No. 3 prospect, whoever it may be come draft night" and is "at least putting pressure on Cooper Flagg in the No. 1 overall discussion." When it comes to Bailey, the Bleacher Report draft expert wrote his "shotmaking has looked as advertised, with the 6'10" wing consistently able to create and make high-difficulty jumpers off the dribble or from the post."

Now, the duo has Durant's seal of approval as well.