A few rumors have bubbled out of Lawrence and surfaced from Darryn Peterson’s camp, but leading up to the NBA Draft lottery on Sunday afternoon, the potential No. 1 overall pick finally came clean about his injury issues during his one-and-done season as a Jayhawk. Speaking to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Peterson explained how a high dose of creatine led to full-body cramps, which left him hospitalized and became a mental hurdle.
The information about Peterson’s scary full-body cramp has been previously reported, and the rationalization that fear of another led to Peterson pulling himself from games, but the 19-year-old had never spoken about it, and had never offered insight into what caused the initial incident.
According to Shelburne’s report, recent bloodwork revealed Peterson’s high baseline level of creatine, and gave the former No. 1 overall recruit some clarity as to why his lone collegiate season was derailed. It also gave NBA teams all they needed to know about the biggest talent in the draft.
With cramping issues cleared up, Darryn Peterson should be the No. 1 pick
AJ Dybantsa is a remarkably talented player. At 6-foot-9, he’s a three-level scorer with excellent shot-making ability and a high defensive floor based on his size and athletic profile. In almost every draft in NBA history, he’s a worthy No. 1 overall pick, but not this one.
The primary argument as to why Dybantsa has sat in the No. 1 spot for nearly the entirety of the offseason is that he’s a more sure thing than Peterson because of Peterson’s injury concerns. Well, it’s not to say that Peterson will navigate his entire career unscathed, but his cramping issues should be completely solved, and any questions about his toughness should fade away. The 18-year-old thought he might die on the training table at basketball practice, so you can forgive him for being a bit cautious the next time he felt a cramp coming on.
NBA training staffs, with their fleet of sports performance doctors and nutritionists, will get Peterson’s body right. Kansas has great resources, but the NBA is a different level, and with that treatment, he should be back to normal. And Peterson’s normal is the most electric player in the draft and the most dynamic scorer to enter the NBA in years.
Few people question whether Peterson is better than Dybantsa. I’m not sure how you could after seeing the two play head-to-head back on January 31, another game Peterson pulled himself out of prematurely. Still, before he retreated to the sidelines, he proved he was the best player in the class, dominating the first half and scoring 18 points on 6-8 shooting.
Peterson doesn’t have a history of quitting on his team or missing time with phantom injuries. He had a weird and unlucky year at the wrong time. If that scares off the team that wins the No. 1 pick on Sunday, they’ll end up with a great player in Dybantsa, and they’ll still regret passing on Peterson.
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