From all parties considered, Darryn Peterson’s time at Kansas was underwhelming.
Injuries hardly allowed him to consistently stay on the floor, and his lack of on-court cohesion with fellow teammates often ended with the Jayhawks looking out of sync towards the season’s biggest moments.
But that period is done now. Now Kansas gets to welcome a freshman class comprising two five-stars in Tyran Stokes, the nation’s No. 1 player and Taylen Kinney, a top-20 recruit, creating the Jayhawks’ new power duo.
Combine that with incoming four-star freshmen in Davion Adkins, Trent Perry and Luke Barnett and the incoming class of there is plenty of reason to get excited for Kansas’ youth.
So while Bill Self and Co. are learning how to deal with a young and transfer-laden team, Peterson is battling it out with AJ Dybantsa in an attempt to be the first pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, which is set for just under a week away.
By the time the season wrapped up, Dybantsa appeared to be a runaway favorite for the No. 1 pick. That’s what 25.5 points and 6.8 rebounds, on a 51% field goal rate, will do for you.
However, Peterson has still widely been considered the prospect with the higher ceiling, as a fully healthy Peterson has a much cleaner-looking jump shot than an unhealthy Peterson, and an ability to create blocks from out of nowhere. In his only season with the Jayhawks, Peterson averaged 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals on a 43.8% field goal rate that includes a strong 38.2% rate from beyond the arc.
Peterson was recently compared to NBA star Devin Booker
In Jeremy Woo’s recent article titled “2026 NBA draft big board rankings: Top 100 prospects,” Woo described the pair as being “stylistically” similar, saying, “His best moments, while further between than he and Kansas hoped, underscored why NBA teams still view him as a future star who executives liken stylistically to Devin Booker.”
Booker has established himself as one of the best scorers the NBA has seen in recent memory. Through 11 years in the league, Booker has notched 20+ point seasons in all but his rookie season, and has made five NBA All-Star Teams, has been nominated to the All-NBA Team twice, and to the 2015-16 All-Rookie Team.
Booker’s career average sits at 24.6 points per game with 5.3 assists and four rebounds. Booker has done all this on a 46.3% field goal rate, including 35.2% from beyond the arc.
With Peterson reportedly wanting to enter a more playmaker role, this comparison between the two could easily come to fruition. Peterson was never given the ability to become the team’s primary creator, often being funneled into shooting situations where his results were largely dependent on whether he was healthy. For now, though, all either Dybantsa or Peterson can do is simply wait for June 23rd, when they will both inevitably hear their name called. The question is, who will go first?
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