KU’s Darryn Peterson acknowledges his desire to be picked No. 1 overall in draft
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- Darryn Peterson said being picked No. 1 overall would mean a lot to him and his family.
- Peterson is expected to be picked No. 1 by Washington, No. 2 by Utah or No. 3 by Memphis.
- Peterson said cramping was tied to high creatine levels plus creatine he was taking.
Darryn Peterson is hoping to become the third player in University of Kansas basketball history — first since Andrew Wiggins in 2014 — to be selected No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft.
The draft is this week, Tuesday and Wednesday in Brooklyn, New York.
“(It would) mean a lot,” Peterson, a 6-foot-5, 19-year-old combo guard from Canton, Ohio said of possibly hearing his name called first.
He was speaking Saturday to Lauren Green from NBA TV to discuss the draft, which will start at 7 p.m. Central time on Tuesday and be shown on ABC and ESPN. The second round of the draft will start at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“The hard work growing up ... (I’ve) dedicated my life to this. I think it’d be more big for my family than me. I’m wherever I go, I’m pleased, I’m just happy to get drafted,” he added. KU’s Danny Manning also was No. 1 overall pick back in 1988.
Peterson, who averaged 20.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in his one-and-done season at KU, is expected to be selected No. 1 overall by Washington, No. 2 by Utah or No. 3 by Memphis.
If Peterson is chosen the overall No. 1 it’s likely because of his scoring ability.
“I mean in the league there are great scorers, so I think I probably fit in well with those guys. Not saying I can score like them, but it’s a scorer’s league, I think,” Peterson told NBA.com.
He’s been compared to Devin Booker by various analysts. Booker, 6-foot-5 former Kentucky Wildcat, averaged 26.1 points per game last year for the Phoenix Suns.
“I don’t really like the comparisons. I just like to say I’m me, but when people say that, I respect it,” Peterson said, noting he grew up following the fortunes of LeBron James.
“I can’t really compare like that,” Peterson said. of James “He’s got 40 vertical and stuff, but that was my first player (to watch growing up). The biggest thing was him being from Ohio and I’m from Ohio as well.”
NBCsports.com recently compared Peterson to Booker as well as Jamal Murray, Damian Lillard and Paul George.
KU coach Bill Self said last season, “to me, Darryn’s the best player we’ve recruited since we’ve been here. When you talk about a player and a combination of a player and a prospect, I think that’s without question. He’s a special talent.”
“Oh, it was crazy (to hear that) because he told me all the players he recruited and I was like, ‘For you to say that about me means a lot.’ But it just showed his belief in me,” said Peterson, who hit 43.8% of his shots last season including 38.2% of his 3’s. “So I just tried to answer the call with that all year.”
He spoke with NBA TV about the cramping issues that forced him to miss up to 11 games last season and remove himself from some other contests.’
“It definitely was a big question mark all year, but after the season I was able to find my baseline and figured out that it was normally already high,” Peterson said of creatine levels. “So that on top of the creatine I was taking at school just made my levels get unsafe, which made me experience the cramping going on throughout the year.”
Peterson added: “I did everything I could to be out there, and when I could, I was out there. I just want to learn from it. I faced adversity for probably the first time I’d say on the court ever in my life. It’s something I know I can handle.”
