After stellar freshman season, UCLA’s Amari Bailey declares for the NBA draft

Having flourished on college basketball’s biggest stage, Amari Bailey is moving on to something bigger.

The UCLA freshman guard whose late-season surge helped carry the Bruins to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament announced Thursday on Instagram that he was declaring for the NBA draft. Bailey’s mother, Johanna Leia, told ESPN that her son would stay in the draft, effectively ending his college career.

Bailey joins teammates Tyger Campbell, Jaylen Clark and Jaime Jaquez Jr. in declaring for the draft with remaining eligibility, though Clark has said he is preserving his option to return next season.

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Barring the arrival of additional transfers, Bailey’s departure means that UCLA’s backcourt will be exceedingly young next season with sophomores Dylan Andrews and Will McClendon joined by freshmen Sebastian Mack and Ilane Fibleuil. The Bruins recently added a veteran in Lazar Stefanovic, a transfer shooting guard from Utah who will be a junior next season.

The final shot of Bailey’s career, a late three-pointer against Gonzaga in the Sweet 16, nearly lifted the Bruins to an improbable comeback victory before the Bulldogs countered with their own huge shot to pull out a 79-76 triumph.

A member of the Pac-12’s all-freshman team, Bailey was at his best over the season’s final month, emerging as a top scorer and defender to fill the voids created by Clark’s season-ending leg injury. Bailey averaged 17.3 points on 56.1% shooting over his last six games, including a career-high 26 points against Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament.

“By the end of our season, Amari was playing as well as any guard in the country,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said in a statement. “His shot selection and shooting percentages show his knowledge of the game and his winning mentality. … Amari loved being a UCLA Bruin. He told me often how playing at UCLA was a dream for him. Now, we’ll get to support him in his next step as a professional.”

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For the season, Bailey averaged 11.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 30 games after having missed more than a month because of a foot injury. His play in the NCAA tournament, when he averaged 15.5 points and 6.0 assists while making 49.5% of his shots and 38.9% of his three-pointers, undoubtedly enhanced his NBA draft stock considerably.

“This has been an incredible year,” Bailey wrote in his farewell post on Instagram. “To my brothers, from the UCLA runs to the Sweet 16, I will never forget the moments we’ve shared throughout the year — a brotherhood that will last forever.”