If there were any worries about Darryn Peterson's availability in the NBA, they're gone now for the Utah Jazz.
Though it's easy to forget today, there was a real stretch of time during the 2025-26 college basketball season where Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson was viewed as the obvious number-one pick in the upcoming draft class.
This came to a peak when Peterson outplayed fellow candidate for the number-one overall pick, AJ Dybantsa from BYU, while only playing in one half of that in-conference matchup at Allen Fieldhouse.
Peterson's defensive impact put him at the forefront of the action from the jump, and BYU head coach Kevin Young did Dybantsa no favors by having the Cougars' star match up man-to-man with Peterson in on-ball situations, as the guard repeatedly scored on his taller, longer defender with smooth pull-up jumpers, tightly-contested three-pointers, and a poster dunk over the BYU interior defense punctuated the evening.
On the court, Peterson made his statement, and the nation took notice.
But therein lies the core of the issue. When Peterson was on the court, he was incredible. But he didn't spend much of the game actually on the court, sitting out the entire second half for no clear reason.
This was something of a theme for Peterson's season, as he would sit out of games almost at random. Checking himself out when it seems he had made his point, Bill Self and the Kansas team didn't offer up much explanation for their star's sudden vanishing acts beyond some vague references to cramping.
That cramping issue would be attributed to the use of creatine after the end of the college basketball season, and that answer has apparently satisfied the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz, owners of the top two picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.
In reference to questions from his days in Lawrence, Tim MacMahon shared the Jazz "have done their due dilligence on Darryn Peterson and they would be completely comfortable with him as a part of their franchise."
Doubling down about any lingering anxiety from his freshman season with the Jayhawks, "there is nothing there that would prevent the Jazz from drafting him."
From a fit perspective, the ideal version of Darryn Peterson is incredibly attractive for Utah, as they could slot him in perfectly alongside Keyonte George in the backcourt, juxtaposing the team's veteran frontcourt with a perimeter attack full of young talent.
Still, with all appearances suggesting the Jazz are happy to sit with the number-two pick and await Washington's decision at the top, as the team's new worst-case scenario is coming away with AJ Dybantsa, who by any measure is equally deserving of the number-one overall pick.
A total win-win.
