Alexander Brown
Five-star center Jayden Quaintance, the top uncommitted prospect in 247Sports’ 2024 recruiting cycle, committed to Arizona State on Monday. The former Kentucky signee requested the release of his National Letter of Intent shortly after John Calipari left for the vacant Arkansas position.
Quaintance is the highest-rated recruit from the state of Arizona since 247Sports began its rankings in 2000 and is just the second five-star recruit Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley has landed, joining Josh Christopher, who committed with ASU in the 2020 recruiting cycle. The Sun Devils 2024 recruiting class is now ranked #14 in 247Sports Team Rankings.
Quaintance is ranked as the No. 8 overall player in his recruiting class and No. 2 behind Duke signee Khaman Maluach. Quaintance won’t turn 17 until July, making him ineligible for 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.
Quaintance committed to Kentucky out of high school at Florida, Missouri and Ohio State. He took an official visit to ASU this past weekend and also visited Memphis. His commitment gives Hurley and his staff a building block as they transition from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 for the 2024-25 campaign.
Here is the Quaintance scouting report from 247Sports Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein.
He is 6-foot-2 with extremely long arms (over 7-foot wingspan), vertical athleticism, strong frame, good hands, soft touch, shooting potential, natural face-up ability and signs of passing instinct . He also runs the court well and is a solid rebounder when he commits. Offensively, he has all the natural tools to be a major mismatch threat. He’s already a huge lob and dunk threat who dunks while still rising, and he’s equally dangerous out of dunk position. He intends to develop his shooting range and has the natural touch to do so, which will allow him to maximize floor space in both directions. Consequently, he should be a very tough disguise on ball screen actions because he is equally capable of rolling or popping. He can put the ball on the floor and attack big opponents off the dribble. He is also a threat to outrun them end to end and is capable of making tough catches in traffic and then absorbing the contact. In the long term, he should even be difficult to pair with due to his natural passing ability.
The Sun Devils’ new recruiting class includes four-star forward Amier Ali, four-star forward Sammie Yeanay, three-star point guard Bo Alridge, three-star center Jaden Smith and Quaintance.
