All major pro sports leagues have a draft, which gives incoming players little if any power to resist the sorting-hat exercise they’re supposed to regard as “an honor and a privilege.”
And if they dare to push back when stripped of their freedom to choose where to live and work, they become vilified by fans and media.
During the 2025 NBA draft, something happened. As reported by ESPN.com, the representatives of former Rutgers guard/forward Ace Bailey told a team picking in the top five to not select him — and that, if that team picked him, he wouldn’t show up.
The Utah Jazz selected Bailey at No. 5.
It seems as if Bailey has no problem with playing for the Jazz. If so, and if the ESPN.com report is accurate, Bailey didn’t want to play for one of the other teams in the top five. And none of the other teams in the top five took him.
So maybe it worked.
Regardless, more players (in all sports) should be willing to do it. And more (any) fans and media should understand the reason for it.
And, please, drop the “if there’s no draft there will be chaos” routine. Bad teams usually stay bad, even when they have dibs on the best players.
There’s a way to do it. And if, as Peter King said on PFT Live not that long ago, there was no draft, the NFL would pivot. And the replacement would be as big (if not bigger) than the draft.
Regardless, it’s better for the players. And until the players have true freedom, we should applaud (not criticize) the players who choose to try to make a bad system work better for them.
