The Utah Jazz raised some suspicions with their latest move to appease rookie Ace Bailey during NBA Summer League games.
The Jazz sought to hire Omar Cooper Jr., the son of Bailey’s manager Omar Cooper, as an unpaid guest coach during Summer League action. The Jazz dropped the plan after the NBA raised concerns about it, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Cooper Jr. played college basketball at McNeese State and plans to go into coaching. The Jazz had hoped his presence would ease Bailey’s transition into the NBA, but the league was clearly concerned about a conflict of interest.
The move drew further scrutiny to Bailey’s ties to Cooper, who served as his manager throughout his controversial pre-draft process. Bailey turned down workouts with top teams and even reportedly threatened at least one team in the top five against drafting him.
Some were also concerned that Cooper was more interested in promoting himself than he was in guiding Bailey to an advantageous situation. Cooper’s son being hired to a Summer League coaching job was only going to further those concerns.
Bailey made his Summer League debut for Utah on Saturday. He was limited to eight points, but impressed with his effort and collected seven rebounds.
