Two days after its season ended, ASU saw three of its players enter the transfer portal as the Sun Devils continue to undergo a major rebuild for the 2025-26 season.
The father of center Jayden Quaintance did reveal to Draft Express that the injury his son suffered on February 23 in a road game at Kansas State was an ACL tear, which forced the freshman to undergo surgery. While the initial report by Draft Express also said that Quaintance was “exploring” entering the portal, it was reported shortly after that the center had already entered the transfer portal.
Quaintance averaged 9.4 points and 7.9 rebounds and was a formidable rim protector, averaging 2.6 blocks and spending a good deal of the season in the top five list of shot blockers. He earned All-Big 12 Freshman team and All-Big 12 Defense team honors.
A couple of hours after Quaintance’s announcement, his frontcourt teammate, junior Shawn Phillips, entered the portal as well. The center averaged 5.5 points and 5.4 rebounds. Phillips was playing some of his best basketball in the last seven games of the year that Quaintance was sidelined recording two double-doubles.
Senior forward Basheer Jihad also entered the portal on Wednesday. The Ball State transfer played one year in Tempe, averaging 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds. The forward, who already played four years of D-I basketball, is hoping that a potential NCAA ruling that awards all student-athletes across all sports five years of eligibility will go into effect over the next few months. In that event, he’s more than likely to play his last year of college basketball elsewhere.
Those three players joined guard Joson Sanon and Brycen Long, as well as forward Brandon Gardner, who entered the portal in late March. Sanon was the leading scorer for the Sun Devils before suffering an ankle injury in the Big 12 opener at BYU on December 31. After missing six games, the freshman never got back to his non-conference form and ultimately averaged 11.9 points and 3.4 rebounds. His decline in play was a major reason for ASU's 13-20 campaign, winning just four games during their Big 12 slate after ending the non-conference portion at 9-2.
Long and Gardner didn’t play for Arizona State during the 2024-25 season. Long was dealing with a non-basketball medical issue, while Gardner started the season injured and was later dismissed from the team. He was the second player to part ways in-season with ASU, following guard BJ Freeman, who last played for ASU on February 15 versus Houston.
As of tonight, ASU has three returning players: freshman forward Ameir Ali, junior guard Austin Nunez (who medically redshirted), and freshman guard Trevor Best, who joined the team in January. Junior guard Adam Miller was honored on the team’s Senior Night but, at press time, has yet to enter the portal.
Arizona State landed transfer additions: Cal State-Northridge forward Marcus Adams, who has two years of eligibility, and Pepperdine guard Maurice Odum, who has one year of eligibility. The Sun Devils have commitments from three players in the 2025 class: Rivals150 forward Jaion Pitt, 7-foot center Leo Curtis, and forward Kash Polk.
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