| No. 21–Kentucky Wildcats | ||||||||||||
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| Position | Power forward | |||||||||||
| League | NCAA | |||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
| Born | July 11, 2007 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. | |||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | |||||||||||
| Listed weight | 225 lb (102 kg) | |||||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||||
| High school |
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| College |
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| Career highlights | ||||||||||||
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Medals
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Jayden Quaintance (born July 11, 2007) is an American Basketball player currently playing for the University of Kentucky Wildcats. [1]
Quaintance grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. [2] He moved to Phoenix, Arizona before the start of high school and enrolled at Hillcrest Prep. [3] Quaintance transferred again to Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina before his sophomore year. [4] He also reclassified from the class of 2025 to 2024. [5] Quaintance was selected to play in the 2024 McDonald's All-American Boys Game during his senior year. [6]
Quaintance was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2024 class, according to major recruiting services. [7] [8] He committed to play college basketball at Kentucky over offers from Missouri, Florida, South Florida, and Ohio State. [9] Quaintance signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play for the Wildcats on November 15, 2023, during the early signing period. [10] However, he requested a release from his NLI on April 10, 2024, shortly after Kentucky head coach John Calipari left the program to become the head coach at Arkansas. [11] On April 29, 2024, Quaintance announced his commitment to Arizona State.
Quaintance played one season with Arizona State, playing 24 games and averaging 9.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. [12] In February 2025, he injured his knee and missed the remainder of the season. He had knee surgery on March 19. [13] Following the season, he entered the transfer portal. [14] He later announced he would transfer to Kentucky, where he had originally committed to play his freshman year. [15]
Quaintance played for the United States national under-16 team at the 2023 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship. He averaged 6.7 points and 6.5 rebounds in six games as the United States won the gold medal. [16]
Quaintance's father, Haminn Quaintance, played college basketball at Jacksonville and Kent State. [17]
