Quaintance Ready to Make Impact on 2025-26 Cats
Jayden Quaintance took a longer than expected path to get to Kentucky, but now that he has made his way to Lexington, he’s appreciative of the journey.
The 6-foot-10 Quaintance originally committed to the Cats as part of the 2024 recruiting class under now former head coach John Calipari. When Calipari left UK for Arkansas, Quaintance re-opened his recruitment and ended up at Arizona State.
He played the entire season at 17 years of age (he graduated high school one year early) and put up impressive numbers for the Sun Devils. Quaintance averaged 9.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, while playing in 29 games. He earned Big 12 All-Freshman and All-Defensive team honors in the process. However, at the end of the season, Quaintance entered the transfer portal, ultimately ending up at Kentucky. What was it about UK head coach Mark Pope the the program that appealed to Quaintance?
“They had the team set up so I could see what it looked like, got to trust in Coach Pope’s offense, see how I can fit into that better,” he said. “I feel like the squad that we have here has a really good chance to win a national championship.”
His successful season last year came to an abrupt end when Quaintance suffered a knee injury against Kansas State on Feb. 23. The injury turned out to be a torn ACL, which required a surgery that took place on March 19. Quaintance admits that he believes he is progressing well.
“I’ve been feeling great. I’ve been progressing pretty well,” he said. “I’ve been trusting the trainers and coaches to try and get me right. Mentally, I’ve just been focusing on the next step and focusing on the moment.”
Quaintance did not mention a specific timeline for his return to the court, admitting that the trainers and coaches will have a big say in that.
“It’s really just trusting the trainers and coaches to try to get me back at 100 percent,” he said. “They are really invested in my future and what I can do to help here and they don’t want to rush me to get back.”
While he continues to rehab, Quaintance is making the most of practice, even though his participation is limited.
“I haven’t been able to do all the reps that everyone else has been able to do, but I’ve been watching, observing, taking notes, learning some actions, getting adapted to the playing style,” he said. “Getting adapted to the way the coaches think and I feel like that’s going to prepare me really well for when I can go 100 percent.”
The sky appears to be the limit for Quaintance. He’s projected to be picked as high as the top five in the 2026 NBA Draft. UK head coach Mark Pope is very high on Quaintance’s potential.
“Jayden is a 17-year-old phenom who is as explosive as he is skilled, and he is just scratching the surface of what he’s going to become in this game,” Pope said. “He’s an incredibly bright kid who is already postering anyone in Big Blue Nation in a game of chess and he and his family couldn’t be more excited to finally get to wear the Blue and White.”
As far as this Kentucky team’s potential, Quaintance believes the ceiling for the 2025-26 Cats is very high, especially on defense.
“I feel like we could be one of the best defensive teams in the country. We have a really long team and everybody is buying in,” Quaintance said. “I feel like we have a really good chance to be special defensively.”
Adding a defensive stopper like Quaintance, in addition to a number of backcourt defenders, should make the Cats a force on defense this season.
Quaintance is glad to be in Lexington and to be part of the Kentucky program, even though it took him a little longer than expected to get to Lexington.
