Arizona State star Jayden Quaintance, a potential top-five pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, entered the transfer portal on Wednesday, 247Sports’ Eric Bossi confirms. Quaintance underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee on March 19, and is expected to be cleared for contact in September.
With Quaintance entering the transfer portal, he becomes the best NBA Draft prospect to do so in the modern era. Quaintance won’t turn 18 until July, which makes him ineligible for the 2025 NBA Draft. NBA rules state that a player must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft, which opens the door for Quaintance to play two seasons in college.
Since the 2021 NBA Draft, the highest-drafted player who previously entered the transfer portal was Davion Mitchell, who started his career at Auburn before transferring to Baylor. Mitchell improved his draft stock significantly under coach Scott Drew and was drafted No. 9 overall by the Sacramento Kings.
The highest-drafted transfer last summer was former Providence star Devin Carter, who started his career at South Carolina and was drafted No. 12 by the Sacramento Kings in the 2024 NBA Draft. Other first-round picks in that draft class who started their college career elsewhere were Kel’el Ware (Oregon to Indiana), Dalton Knecht (Northern Colorado to Tennessee), Jaylon Tyson (Texas Tech to Cal), Terrence Shannon Jr. (Texas Tech to Illinois) and Baylor Scheierman (South Dakota State to Creighton).
All seven of those players improved their draft stock at their next college destination. What makes Quaintance a unique circumstance is that he would be a surefire top-10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft if he was eligible. Quaintance averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks while being the youngest player in Division l basketball. He would’ve been the third-youngest player in Tuesday’s McDonald’s All-American Game had he stayed in his original recruiting class.
Quaintance originally signed to play for John Calipari and Kentucky but backed off that pledge after the former UK coach took the vacant job at Arkansas last offseason. The former No. 9 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle by 247Sports committed shortly after to Arizona State and became the highest-ranked recruit in its program’s history.
Reclassifying is a common practice in the high school space. Duke star Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, reclassified from 2025 to the 2024 cycle and played the start of his freshman season at 17.
St. John’s star RJ Luis Jr. may be the most accomplished player to enter the transfer portal after earning Big East Player of the Year, but Quaintance will be a case study of the new era in college basketball. There won’t be a player with his potential draft pedigree that enters the transfer portal again anytime soon, so don’t expect the list of suitors for his service to be short.
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