Kentucky basketball posted a mysterious photo of Jayden Quaintance practicing

The number one question heading into the season for the Kentucky Wildcats is when star center Jayden Quaintance is going to be back on the floor. Last season, Quaintance went down with an ACL tear toward the end of his freshman season at Arizona State.

After a successful freshman season at Arizona State, Quaintance hit the transfer portal and decided to finally call Kentucky home after a long wait. Some fans might remember that Quaintance was once committed to play for John Calipari but ended up going to ASU.

He is an elite player who will soon be taken in the first round of the NBA Draft, so Big Blue Nation is fired up to see him on the floor.

ASU center Jayden Quaintance (21) reacts after his fifth foul against Iowa State during a game at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe on Jan. 25, 2025. | Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Obviously, he is still working hard to get back on the floor from the ACL tear, and no solid timeline has been given to this point. On a podcast a few weeks ago, Coach Pope made it seem like December is a fair timeline, but this could have been him not showing his hand.

Earlier this week, Jon Rothstein posted a tweet on X saying that Coach Pope said that Quaintance wasn't cleared for non-contact work, but it seems like that might no longer be the case.

This evening, Kentucky basketball made a post on social media with two different pictures on Quaintance. One picture was him rising up for a jump shot, and the other picture was him dribbling through some cones.

Let's take a look at those photos of the Wildcats' big man Quaintance.

Jayden Quaintance practicing on September 12th

👀 @qjayhoops pic.twitter.com/JsclIJfXeM
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) September 12, 2025

Now, obviously, this was non-contact practice for Quaintance, and he is still steps away from being ready for contact, but it is great to see the Wildcats center with a ball in his hand.

Most fans would be very happy to have Quaintance back on the floor by early to mid-December, but if he were healthy earlier than this, it would be a big boost. The Wildcats need Quaintance to play a few games before SEC play rolls around, so he has his footing before things get really serious in conference play.

While multiple steps still have to be reached for Quaintance, the two photographs from the social media pages are very encouraging for Pope's team. Quaintance takes the Wildcats from a fringe top ten team to a top five team in all of college basketball, so it is imperative that he is on the floor.