April 12, 2026, 3:01 a.m. CT
LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball has a player who’s in contention to be one of the top picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Darryn Peterson, a freshman guard for the Jayhawks this past season, arrived in college as someone anticipated to be one of the best the game had to offer this cycle. Despite health issues keeping him from being completely available throughout the campaign, he still showed flashes of being that caliber of talent. He was still an All-Big 12 Conference second team honoree, and all-freshman team honoree, despite not always being at 100%.
But with the NCAA tournament now over, comes another opportunity to take a look at where Peterson might be taken in this year’s NBA draft. Although there was disappointment, in seeing Peterson’s season come to an end with a loss in the round of 32 in March Madness, it’s not as if that early exit means he won’t be a coveted prospect at the next level. In fact, that KU didn’t make a deep run doesn’t seem to be hurting his chances of being one of the first players taken in June.
Here are a few of those projections from recent days:
NBA mock draft projections for Kansas basketball’s Darryn Peterson
SB Nation: 1st round, 2nd overall
The Ringer: 1st round, 3rd overall
Bleacher Report: 1st round, 2nd overall
The pre-draft process will allow Peterson an opportunity to try to take back a hold of the No. 1 spot, but odds are regardless he’s not going to have to wait long to hear his name called. He’s that good, and he’s been trending in the right direction health-wise. Listed at 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds by Kansas, he’s going to be able to add size to a team’s back court, too.
Peterson finished the 2025-26 season with 24 appearances for KU, which also reached the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament. He averaged 20.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while also averaging more than an assist and a steal per contest. He was a dynamic scorer who also shot 38.2% from behind the arc.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.