The Utah Jazz certainly shocked the masses when they drafted Ace Bailey with the No. 5 pick. At the time, the narrative was that Bailey didn't want to play for Utah, but it was actually more than that. Bailey's problem wasn't that he didn't want the Jazz, but that he really wanted to start his NBA career in Washington.
NBA Insider Marc Stein confirmed as such in his September 22 Substack post.
"This one has been in circulation since draft night in June: Washington is the lottery team, according to various rivals, that was the preferred landing spot for Ace Bailey.