Ace Bailey Declares for 2025 NBA Draft After 1 Season at Rutgers, B/R's No. 5 Prospect

After a strong freshman season at Rutgers, Ace Bailey is ready to test himself at the NBA level.

According to ESPN's Shams Charania, Bailey declared for the 2025 NBA draft on Wednesday.

"I want to thank everyone at Rutgers," Bailey told ESPN. "The community for supporting us and traveling across the country to watch us. My teammates, coaches and support staff. The donors. The strength and conditioning coach, nutritionist, managers and also the security guards, Rob and Julio, for keeping us safe. Everyone pushed me to get better every day, to be the best version of myself. I am thankful for everything they did for me. I felt a lot of love from everyone.

"I loved being in college and playing college basketball. The student section, the chants, the blackout games, the wins and losses. All of it."

Bailey was a member of the star-studded 2024 college recruiting class that also featured Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper. He was the No. 2 overall player in the class, behind Flagg, per 247Sports.

Rutgers seemed to hit the jackpot by landing both Bailey and Harper. But things didn't come together as expected for the team, which finished a disappointing 15-17 and missed the NCAA tournament.

Despite the team-wide struggles, Bailey lived up to his end of the bargain. He averaged 17.6 points on 46.0 percent shooting (34.6 percent from three), 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.

Bailey is still regarded as one of the top prospects in the 2025 class. B/R's Jonathan Wasserman projected him to be the No. 4 overall pick in his most recent mock released on April 15. He is also No. 5 overall on Wasserman's big board behind Flagg, Harper, VJ Edgecombe and Jase Richardson.

Wasserman compared Bailey's game to Brandon Miller, Michael Porter Jr. and Rashard Lewis. Every team is looking for size and shooting, so the 18-year-old figures to be an attractive prospect in the 2025 draft.

Now that he has declared his intentions to turn pro, Bailey will focus all of his attention of proving to teams he's worthy of the hype that's been around him for years dating back to when he was a high school superstar.