Kentucky’s Jayden Quaintance Finds Escape in Manga During Injury Recovery | NCAA Basketball News

ST. LOUIS – Kentucky freshman Jayden Quaintance is immersing himself in Japanese manga while recovering from a knee injury, a pastime he says provides a welcome focus during his rehabilitation. Quaintance, sidelined since January with complications from a torn ACL and meniscus suffered in February 2025 while playing for Arizona State, has been reading the “Berserk” series and has amassed approximately 15 or 16 copies during the team’s trip to St. Louis for the NCAA tournament.

The 6-foot-10 forward, a consensus five-star recruit and former McDonald’s All-American, received a steroid injection in his knee and could potentially be cleared to practice within the next two weeks, according to Quaintance. He has played in four games this season.

Quaintance’s interest in manga began with anime. He reportedly binged all three seasons of “Jujutsu Kaisen” in three days, prompting him to explore the source material. “I watched anime a lot last year, but I never really got into reading as much,” Quaintance said. “But having a lot more free time nowadays, just a nice hobby to have.” He also enjoys reading “One-Punch Man,” describing it as a lighter read.

Despite the injury, Quaintance is currently ranked as the No. 18 prospect in ESPN’s 2026 NBA draft rankings and indicated he “most likely” intends to declare for the draft at the end of the season. He views his recovery timeline as crucial for the predraft process, hoping to demonstrate to prospective teams that his knee has fully healed and that his performance remains consistent with his pre-injury form.

Ben Baby, ESPN’s NFL Nation reporter covering the Cincinnati Bengals, joined the company in July 2019 and also covers boxing for ESPN since 2020. He previously worked for The Dallas Morning News covering college athletics. Baby is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).

Quaintance expressed a desire to continue reading as a regular habit. “I feel like [reading manga] and just reading normal books, I feel like it’s something that I want to make more of a habit in my everyday life,” he said. “And I’ve been enjoying it a lot, so I’m glad I kind of had this time to reflect and identify something.”