The San Antonio Spurs used the No. 20 pick in the NBA Draft to grab Jayden Quaintance, a former five-star recruit who barely played in college. And that’s exactly the point.
Quaintance is 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-4 wingspan and the kind of defensive instincts that make NBA scouts overlook a medical chart that’s already a few pages long. He tore his ACL as a freshman at Arizona State, then transferred to Kentucky but appeared in just four games this past season before the same knee acted up again. The Spurs are betting on the upside.
This isn’t a pick for right now. This is a pick for the playoffs in two or three years, when the Thunder aren’t the only young, hungry team in the West.
Oklahoma City took national champion center Aday Mara at No. 12 earlier in the night, a more conventional add for a frontcourt that already features Chet Holmgren. But the Spurs saw what the Thunder did in the conference semifinals and decided they needed someone who can soak up minutes and fouls against a team that wants to play small and fast. Quaintance at his best is a lob catcher, a rim protector, and a guy who can switch onto guards for a possession or two. At 18 years old, that’s a lot of project, but the raw tools are real.
San Antonio’s front office has been clear about wanting to build a wall around Victor Wembanyama — not just protect him off the court, but put guys next to him who can handle the physical punishment of a seven-game series. Quaintance fits that mold. He’s not a shooter yet. He’s not a polished offensive player. But he doesn’t need to be. The Spurs already have a center who can handle the ball. They need someone who can guard the other team’s big and let Wembanyama roam.
There’s real risk here. Quaintance hasn’t played a full season since high school. His recovery timeline is still fuzzy, and the team has not confirmed when he’ll be cleared for contact. But if you’re picking at No. 20 in a draft without a clear superstar, you take the swing. The Spurs have the development staff and the patience to let him marinate.
Fans online pointed out the irony: the Thunder took a polished center from a winning program, and the Spurs took the raw, injured kid. But that’s how rivalries work in the NBA sometimes. One team plays it safe. The other rolls the dice.
Quaintance is already in San Antonio working with the training staff, according to league sources. No timeline yet on his debut, but the Spurs are betting he’s worth the wait.
Leave a Comment