The race to the NBA Draft is on. The 2026 draft class is littered with talent set to take the league by storm.
Talent ranged from Cameron Boozer (Duke), AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville), and North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson, all people who have been floated around the top slot by the time June rolls around.
Of course, one contender that we purposely left out was Kansas’ Darryn Peterson.
Out of all the prospects mentioned above, Peterson has experienced the most up-and-down start to his collegiate season as a string of injuries has hindered his time on court.
Jeremy Woo and Jeff Borzello of ESPN have compiled some intel from several different sources in the NBA who have given their reports on Peterson.
(Note this ESPN Piece was released earlier this week; however, at this point, Peterson had already played his latest minutes for Kansas, a 77-76 overtime win against NC State.)
According to an NBA Eastern Conference scout: “To me he's No. 1 and I don't know what scenario [the others] can get to that would have me bump [him down]. He's so cold and collected and poised and consistent. Even Darryn's tough nights to me are incredibly productive."
Of course, the problem with Peterson has never been on the hardwood as Peterson has an innate ability to make pull-up jumpers against elite competition look easy. Rather, Peterson’s health issues, which have seen him miss 10 games so far this season, have caused knots for Kansas fans.
"That [injuries] was never going to stop anyone from drafting him," one scout said. "You just have to talk to your doctors and if your doctors think you can manage it. Everyone's got their medical teams. As long as it's not like a damning injury, he's still going top two."
The latest injury Peterson sustained against NC State was later labeled as “quad cramping” by head coach Bill Self.
Peterson has since missed back-to-back blowout wins against Towson (73-49) and Davidson (90-61).
Peterson’s next eligible matchup would be to open up Big 12 play against the UCF Golden Knights, which doesn’t take place until January 3rd.
In hindsight, while those at Allen Fieldhouse would have preferred to have seen Peterson on the court in both of those matchups, the priority should be getting him fit for conference play and spending the holiday season doing whatever he can to get back to full fitness.
This season, Peterson has averaged a strong 19.3 points, along with 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.3 steals per game, all while converting at an efficient 52.8% field goal rate.
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