Arizona State’s Jayden Quaintance commits to transfer to Kentucky

Jayden Quaintance was supposed to be at Kentucky coming out of high school. He’ll now just be ending up in in Lexington a season later than expected.

Quaintance has committed to the Wildcats out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3 has learned. That news breaks per sources this morning speaking to On3’s Joe Tipton.

Quaintance, a Cleveland native, played his prep basketball at Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh. He was the No. 7 recruit in the country there as a Five-Star+ prospect in the 2024 cycle. He also rated as the No. 1 center in the class and the No. 1 player out of North Carolina. With that, he would commit to John Calipari as the top signee of six total with that group ranked among the best in the nation coming out of the class.

However, Quaintance, along with four of those other commitments, never ended up at UK with Calipari leaving last offseason for Arkansas. Travis Perry would be the only one who remained at his in-state school as Boogie Fland, Karter Knox, and Billy Richmond followed Coach Cal in joining the Razorbacks while Somto Cyril went to Georgia elsewhere in the SEC. Once he got his own release from his letter of intent, Quaintance, who still considered staying at Kentucky upon their hire of Mark Pope, would sign just over two weeks later with Arizona State.

In 24 games with the Sun Devils this season, Quaintance averaged 9.4 points (52.5% FG), 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. That had him leading in production in several of those categories at ASU as well as in all of the Big 12 as a selection in the conference to the All-Defensive and All-Freshman Teams. That said, it’s worth noting that Quaintance missed the final six games of the year with an ACL injury that he has since had a successful surgery on with reports suggesting he’ll be back by tip-off of his sophomore season.

A year later now, though, Quaintance became available again with his entry into the portal as one of seven to leave Tempe. He immediately became a top transfer at No. 3 overall, behind only Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan) and Bennett Stirtz (Iowa), and as the No. 2 PF, behind only Lendeborg, in On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players.

With this commitment, Kentucky has four additions in the portal during this cycle. They’ve also added Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), Kam Williams (Tulane), and Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh) with Lowe, Dioubate, and now Quaintance having all committed over the last four days. Quaintance (No. 3), Dioubate (No. 39), and Williams (No. 48) are currently the ones who are rated with that trio all being in the Top-50 of On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players.

Quaintance committed just over a year ago to be at Kentucky on a two-year plan as a top prospect who expected to be a lottery selection in the 2026 NBA Draft. He ended up taking a gap year, though, with him now re-committing to them again on Tuesday in ending up in the bluegrass after all.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.