It started as 1-on-1 and 2-on-2, then 3-on-3 for Jayden Quaintance. Now, the prized portal addition is playing full-contact 5-on-5 for the Wildcats ahead of his debut in the blue and white — just not quite the 5-on-5 we’re hoping for quite yet.

The future lottery pick is scrimmaging and beating up on some poor souls after passing his final strength test to end the rehab process and begin the ramp-up return-to-play push. For now, they’re graduate assistants and random kids they picked up at the Johnson Student Recreation Center.

Once he’s feeling comfortable dunking on those guys, he’ll start doing it in practice against his own teammates.

“He killed it. He crushed it,” Pope said of the strength test, which he previously described as ‘really, really important’ as one of the final hurdles left to clear before he can go full-contact. “We’re working him back into some parts of practice. He still can’t be a full scout team body, we’re not going to let him do that yet.

“We’re going to bring him back slowly, but he’s actually played in some full-court 5-on-5 with our GAs. We grabbed a couple of kids from the rec center and I think he had a lot of fun doing that yesterday, he felt pretty good.”

They’re close on Quaintance’s highly anticipated debut as a Wildcat and they won’t risk any potential setbacks out of impatience or overambition. Then it will be time to unleash the beast sooner rather than later.

Getting his feet wet with some 5-on-5 was yet another massive step in the right direction, no matter the level of competition.

“He’s on his way back and it’s just, for him, it’s a matter of being smart and hypercautious and putting him in a great position to do it,” Pope said. “He’s been making good progress.”

The 6’10.5″, 255-pound forward was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team as a freshman at Arizona State after averaging 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 1.5 assists per contest. He hasn’t been able to show much of that off quite yet in practice, but from what his teammates can tell — and what they know of him as a player based on his five-star reputation — they’re thrilled to have him join the party.

Because the party could definitely use some excitement, knowing how the first three big-time matchups have gone for the Wildcats. Quaintance is needed on the floor.

“Well, I think just that he’s — more than anything, he’s just a simple player,” Andrija Jelavic said of the star forward. “When he sees the rim, he’s going to dunk that ball. And when he sees that ball on the defense, he’s going to block that ball. That’s something we just really need right now. We need some simple, aggressive plays right now, especially at the defensive end.

“… Just his presence in the paint. He’s really — I can’t even explain, but when you see him, he’s really big, not just tall or strong. His presence is big. I think that will really help us on the defensive end, just on the fear aspect from the opponents. … I think he’s going to be a really big part of this team.”

One step closer — and there aren’t many more to go.