Jayden Quaintance explains how ‘NBA playstyle’ impacted transfer to Kentucky

Jayden Quaintance is a projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and he only plans to increase his draft stock. In a meeting with the media in July, Quaintance explained how Kentucky will help him achieve this goal.

“The freedom and space they play with, like they play fast and they play with space, which is like an NBA type of playstyle, and it’s been working really well for them,” Quaintance said. “They got to the Sweet Sixteen last year.

“They’ve been putting up 100 points in multiple games, which is really hard to do in college. So Coach Pope has a really effective offensive scheme and I feel like if everybody buys, in we could be really special.”

Quaintance initially committed to Kentucky when he was in high school. However, after head coach John Calipari left the program to take over at Arkansas, Quaintance decommitted and eventually landed at Arizona State.

Quaintance had a standout debut campaign for the Sun Devils. He started in all 24 of his appearances, averaging 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 52.5% from the field. He shot 6-32 (18.8%) from 3-point range last season.

Quaintance was even more imposing on defense than he was on offense. He averaged 2.6 blocks and 1.1 steals per game. For his efforts, he was named an All-Big 12 Defensive Team selection and an All-Freshman Team member.

However, in February, the 6-foot-10 standout tore his ACL and was sidelined for the remainder of the season. Just two months after the injury occurred, Quaintance committed to Kentucky in the NCAA Transfer Portal. Now, Quaintance is diligently working to get in game-ready condition.

“I’ve been feeling great. I’ve been progressing pretty well. I’ve been trusting the trainers and the coaches (who are) trying to get me right,” Quaintance said. “Mentally, I’ve just been focusing on the next step and also kind of focusing on the moment. I’m feeling really good.

“Dwelling on things doesn’t really help you get better. I was always focused on the next step and trying to build myself and see what I could do to get better faster. So I was never really too down.”

Jayden Quaintance was the No. 4 overall player in On3’s 2025 Transfer Portal Player Rankings. Kentucky head coach Mark Pope can’t wait to see the star sophomore hit the hardwood.

“He’s an incredible talent,” Pope said. “We’re going to go as fast as we can with the absolute most caution that we can. And so, he’s working really hard. He’s making tremendous progress right now. Talk about a beautiful, young person, man. He’s really young, actually. When I say young person, he really young, but he’s a beautiful kid.”