Jayden Quaintance is a projected top-five pick in latest 2026 NBA Mock Draft

Jayden Quaintance was the prize of Mark Pope‘s portal class this offseason, taking a big-time swing on the ultimate high-risk vs. high-reward transfer in the former five-star forward. The talent is obvious, earning Big 12 All-Freshman Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team accolades as the youngest player in college basketball last year — but he’s recovering from a torn ACL and underwent surgery back in March. If he’s healthy, he can be the difference in banner No. 9 for Kentucky. If he’s not, he becomes a what-if and potentially the missing piece.

Should the former come true, as hoped, it’s fair to dream big about his draft status, too. We just saw Pope get his first and second draft picks as a head coach in Koby Brea and Amari Williams — both as second-round picks in 2025. Quaintance? He may not just be Pope’s first lottery pick or top-10 selection, but potentially as high as top-five, according to CBS Sports’ latest mock draft for 2026.

There, the Kentucky sophomore comes in at No. 5 overall, behind only BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, Duke’s Cameron Boozer and Tennessee’s Nate Ament.

That’s the whole list.

“Quantance averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 24 appearances at Arizona State last season and is widely regarded as the best NBA prospect among returning college players,” CBS Sports said of the Wildcat forward. “The 6-9 forward is now at Kentucky and recovering from ACL injury; so a lot has changed in the past year. But the still-17-year-old still has elite physical tools that should keep him in the top 10 of draft boards heading into the summer.”

Quaintance is a consensus lottery selection in all of the latest mocks released following the 2025 NBA Draft last week — with some other Wildcats also in the running.

ESPN (two-round mock)

• Jayden Quaintance, 6th, Memphis Grizzlies (via PHX)
• Kam Williams, 46th

CBS Sports (Adam Finkelstein, lottery only)

• Jayden Quaintance, 7th, Toronto Raptors

Bleacher Report (first-round mock)

• Jayden Quaintance, 7th, Memphis Grizzlies (via PHX)

SB Nation (first-round mock)

• Jayden Quaintance, 4th
• Jasper Johnson, 21st
• Kam Williams, 30th

USA Today (first-round mock)

• Jayden Quaintance, 8th
• Kam Williams, 17th

On3 (first-round mock)

• Jayden Quaintance, 14th
• Otega Oweh, 27th

When can we expect the superstar talent back out on the floor in blue and white? Pope gave his best no-comment when the question was brought up last week, saying he didn’t want to talk about Quaintance at all because he recently destroyed him in chess.

He previously said, though, Kentucky would be cautious with the former five-star recruit — who told KSR after his commitment the goal was to “get back around September.” The head coach hasn’t been ready to go that far, not even committing to the Louisville game on November 11, but said the reward will be worth the wait.

“Talk about a beautiful young person, man. He’s a young — really young, actually. When I say young person, he’s really young, but he’s a beautiful kid. I mean, Big Blue Nation is going to fall in love with Jayden Quaintance. He just is. He fits on our roster. He’s just a really special person,” Pope said. “… The one thing I know about him, he’s an incredible talent and we’re going to go as fast as we can with the absolute most caution that we can.

“He’s working really hard. He’s making tremendous progress right now. … We’re gonna race back to 100 percent health as fast as we can.”

Even if it takes a few extra weeks, there is a pot of gold waiting at the end of that rainbow. It may just be the key to banner No. 9 next season.