Louisville Basketball head coach Pat Kelsey has been at work getting the roster ready for next season, as he has gone deep into the transfer portal, but Kelsey was not able to secure the commitment of top ten incoming freshman Jayden Quaintance. As he has officially committed to Arizona State, following his recent visit there.
Major commitment on a potential 2026 NBA Draft lottery pick: Jayden Quaintance – a 16-year old ranked as the No. 2 center in ESPN’s Top 100 prospects — will sign with the Arizona State Sun Devils, he tells ESPN. He recently de-committed from Kentucky. pic.twitter.com/5u8D0Vdd9p
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 29, 2024
It seemed as if Quaintance would commit to Louisville last week, as many reporters and insiders predicted him to commit to Louisville after he postponed his Memphis visit. However, he visited Arizona State this past weekend and it seems as if the Sun Devils were the highest bidder.
Quaintance is #2 in ESPN's top 100 incoming freshman rankings and would have been a huge get for Kelsey, especially since he was a former Kentucky commit. However, coming in at 6'9 for a center and rumors of him asking for upwards of 1.5-2 million dollars for his NIL. Kelsey could have dodged a bullet.
This gives Kelsey more NIL to work with going forward, as he attempts to fill out the rest of the roster going into next month. Arizona State may gotten a high rated player, but it may end up coming back around to hurt them, as Quaintance is undersized and demands a lot of PR attention and NIL money.
Kelsey seems to have a dodged a potential bullet here, but only time will tell.