Would Brooklyn Nets move up to catch Ace Bailey on the way down?

Once the Nets fell back in the Draft Lottery, it seemed like Ace Bailey was out of reach for them. Not so fast.

The intrigue regarding Ace Bailey continued Wednesday.

The highly talented but highly polarizing Rutgers forward has yet to work out for any NBA teams and Jonathan Givony of ESPN and Draft Express shocked the NBA with word Tuesday that he is more than slipping from his No. 3 perch in the Draft. He’s falling.

Givony wrote then that the 18-year-old is “losing momentum”, noting that he has yet to visit any training facility for workouts because he doesn’t see “a proven pathway to development,” suggesting that Philadelphia with its veteran cast and other priorities may not provide him with the minutes or opportunity to excel early in his career. Instead, Givony said he wants “a situation deemed more advantageous from a geographic and playing time perspective,” but he didn’t indicate whether that location was near New Brunswick, N.J. where he played, or Chattanooga, Tenn., where he’s from.

Wednesday, the Draft guru went even further, suggesting that if Bailey falls, the Brooklyn Nets among others might be there to catch him…

“If the 76ers and the Hornets decide to pass on him then Washington , New Orleans or Brooklyn at 8 somebody is gonna trade up for him,“ he told Malika Andrews on NBA Today.

Givony didn’t say that Brooklyn would be interested, but he certainly implied it. As has been noted repeatedly, the Nets sent scouts galore to Rutgers games, home and way, this past season. And Bobby Marks, Givony’s colleague, suggested that the whole thing tells him that someone, somewhere, has given Bailey a guarantee…

However, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer said Bailey will finally be at 76ers training facility in Camden this week for workouts and laid out the concerns that NBA types have about him…

Then, Givony reported just before midnight Thursday that Bailey had canceled the Philly workout.

That said, Pompey in a separate tweet quoted a scout as saying that if Bailey clicks, he could be a Hall of Famer.

Similarly, Givony has said that Bailey’s talent is so great that GMs and others fear making the wrong decision.

“He scares people because they don’t want to draft him, and also because they’re worried if they don’t draft him, he’s going to become a star and make them look very stupid.” he said.

Meanwhile, speculation continues about what the Nets are up to, but as Brian Lewis tweeted, there may be less there than it seems…

Much of that speculation concerns Nic Claxton being moved to Phoenix as part of a multi-team Kevin Durant trade or to L.A. but it is, as of now, just that, speculation and one should not dismiss that much of it is being fueled by KD’s camp.