Jayden Quaintance may not have gone in the top five, ten, or lottery of the NBA Draft like he was projected to a year ago, but all things considered, he may have ended up in the best spot possible.
The San Antonio Spurs selected Quaintance with the No. 20 pick in last night’s draft, debunking fears that the big man would slip to the bottom of the first round or even second because of lingering knee issues. In fact, the Spurs felt comfortable taking Quaintance even though he will require a second procedure on his knee that could keep him out six months. That’s a luxury a club like San Antonio has right now, and once fully healthy, Quaintance could be an absolute monster alongside Victor Wembanyama, adding some needed physicality to the Spurs’ frontcourt.
Because of his knee and limited sample size at Kentucky, the national media weren’t quite sure what to make of Quaintance before the draft; however, the reviews for his fit with San Antonio are almost unanimously positive. Here’s a rundown.
The Spurs came up just short of the NBA title in Wembanyama’s third season. Jeremy Woo believes they were the title contenders that helped themselves the most in Round 1.
[The Spurs] were very pronounced about how they tackled their biggest need, which was to become bigger and more physical up front. We saw Wembanyama get beaten up a bit in the Finals. A healthy Jayden Quaintance and NBA-ready Tarris Reed Jr. should give him some cover as San Antonio prepares for physical playoff battles to come.
Woo’s colleague Ben Golliver agreed, tabbing Quaintance to San Antonio as his favorite prospect-team fit outside of the lottery last night.
San Antonio came out of Wembanyama’s first playoff run knowing it needed to add more size and physicality to its frontcourt. By the end of the NBA Finals, Knicks forward OG Anunoby was handily winning his matchup and veterans Luke Kornet and Keldon Johnson were struggling to contribute in their minutes.
Quaintance, 19, fell to the No. 20 pick because he sat out most of last season recovering from an ACL injury. The Spurs are betting that his defensive versatility and strength will help address their shortcomings once he’s back to full strength. Fast-forward a few years, and the best-case scenario could be terrifying for opposing offenses. How will anyone score on lineups featuring Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Carter Bryant and Quaintance?
Sam Vecenie and John Hollinger analyzed every first-round pick. If healthy, Vecenie believes Quaintance has All-Defensive team potential. Hollinger thinks the Spurs still could have waited until pick No. 26 to get Quaintance, but sees why they didn’t.
I would have liked to see San Antonio select a true power forward sitting right there in Karim López. However, the temptation to snag Quaintance and, if healthy and he hits, pair him with Victor Wembanyama was possibly just too tempting for San Antonio. Questions about Quaintance’s health and offense had hurt his draft stock. I think the Spurs could have moonwalked back a few spots and still made the same pick. Grade: B-
Over at Yahoo Sports, Kevin O’Connor also gave Quaintance to the Spurs a grade of B-, calling it the pick the most surprising of the night. But, again, the Spurs have the luxury of swinging big.
This is the biggest surprise of the draft so far given the amount of concerns about his surgically operated knee. But if there’s any team that’s going to take a big, big swing here, it’s San Antonio. Remember when Victor Wembanyama was drafted and there were rumblings the Spurs had interest in Brook Lopez? Quaintance isn’t exactly the same type of big man, but picking him here does suggest the Spurs have a vision for playing more two-big lineups, whether Quaintance is sharing the floor with Wemby or coming off the bench alongside Luke Kornet. As a freshman at Arizona State, he was blocking everything in sight, showing defensive instincts and mobility that players his size aren’t supposed to have, and he was 17 years old doing it. Then came the ACL, the meniscus, the fractured knee, the transfer to Kentucky, persistent swelling, a shutdown for the remainder of his sophomore season, and an inability to fully workout for teams during the pre-draft phase. At some point, someone was gonna take a swing on him, though, and it’s hard to fault the Spurs for swinging for the fences here.
Kevin O’Connor, Yahoo Sports
The Ringer
Danny Chau listed San Antonio as one of his Round 1 winners. Like everyone, he worries about JQ’s knee, but says that if healthy, he and Tarris Reed Jr. can serve as Wembanyama’s enforcers ala Dale and Antonio Davis for Reggie Miller back in the ’90s. Chau also makes a good point about Quaintance’s age; still just 18, he has plenty of time to make a full recovery.
The Spurs traded back into the first round to select Reed at no. 26. He’s a classic low-post rumbler with some surprising athletic traits: Even though he was the second-heaviest player at the combine, he posted some of the best lane agility and shuttle run times in the class, regardless of position.Â
But the real sinking feeling moment came when Adam Silver announced San Antonio’s pick at no. 20: Quaintance, a titanically strong and explosive defensive prospect who slid in the draft because of complications in his recovery from a torn ACL suffered back in 2025. Quaintance seems likely to redshirt his rookie season, but the 18-year-old has extreme youth on his side. There’s a good chance that Quaintance will be younger than some of the one-and-done prospects who come out of the 2027 draft. If the Spurs medical staff can work their magic and keep Quaintance upright, the defensive potential of a Quaintance-Wembanyama frontcourt is almost unfathomable.Â
As a huge Kentucky fan, J. Kyle Mann may be a little biased, but he LOVES Quaintance’s fit with the Spurs, giving it an A grade.
Wondered if this one might happen. I had mocked Quaintance to the Spurs in one of our previous mock drafts based on zero intel; I was going purely on what I saw of his personality behind the scenes at Kentucky and what I saw on tape when he was healthy at Arizona State, where he dominated the Big 12 defensively as a 17-year-old. After the Spurs lost to the Knicks, the need for some second-unit defensive nastiness only increased. Quaintance’s injury history makes this a risk—he not only suffered an ACL tear to end his first season, but he lasted only a few games at UK before going out again, leading many to wonder whether this would be a lingering issue. But if Quaintance stays healthy, he could end up a top-five player from this draft. He’s that versatile of a defensive talent. For a team that just went to the Finals, that would be quite the coup.
SI’s Liam McKeone and Ryan Phillips picked their five favorite fits from the first round; Quaintance to San Antonio made the cut.
It is, if anything, a great pairing on paper. San Antonio obviously does not need a starting center with Victor Wembanyama, but it found out the hard way how quickly things can fall apart in big games if he doesn’t have an adequate backup. With a huge 7’5″ wingspan and elite athleticism, Quaintance has the potential to be a dominant two-way force in the paint—but all the Spurs really need out of him is to be a little better than Luke Kornet by the time the playoffs start next year. If he can ensure San Antonio’s defense doesn’t fall to pieces when Wemby hits the bench, as we saw over and over again the last few months, Quaintance will be a home run pick. The fact that he has All-Defense potential is just the cherry on top of this sundae.Â
The injury concern cannot be dismissed, especially after Quaintance’s post-draft interview revealed a need for another cleanup procedure on his meniscus. The Spurs seemed to recognize that by hedging with another big man pick a few selections later in UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. But there’s a real chance we look back on this draft and wonder how San Antonio landed another freakishly athletic and elite defensive big man.Â
We’ll wrap things up with Stephen Noh of The Sporting News, who gave the Spurs a B+ grade for taking Quaintance.
Quaintance has serious injury question marks. He had ACL surgery as a freshman and managed to play in only four games for Kentucky last season. When he was healthy though, he was considered a lottery talent and a potential All-Defensive big man due to his rim protection and freakish mobility.
It makes sense then for the Spurs to take him as a potential backup to Victor Wembanyama or a long-term replacement for Luke Kornet, who has played alongside Wemby at times. Quaintance’s offense lags far behind his defense but he lands with a franchise with stellar player development that can help him on that end. There’s some bust potential here, but the Spurs are in a position to make that gamble.
Stephen Noh, The Sporting News
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