{"id":2007497,"date":"2026-06-24T00:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007497"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:19:26","slug":"darryn-peterson-selected-by-the-utah-jazz-with-the-no-2-pick-in-the-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007497","title":{"rendered":"Darryn Peterson selected by the Utah Jazz with the No. 2 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Athletic has live coverage<\/a> of the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Utah Jazz selected Darryn Peterson with the No. 2 pick Tuesday in the NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

Peterson spent one season at Kansas, playing in 24 games and averaging 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. In high school, he showed he was a strong ballhandler who counters defenders well with his herky-jerky actions. He can not only keep his dribble alive, but also threaten defenses with his creativity out of ball screens.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

At the NBA combine, he measured at 6 feet 4.5 without shoes, with a wingspan of 6 feet 9 3\/4 inches and an 8-foot-7 standing reach. He plays with strength and physicality and has a powerful, skinny frame that looks like it will continue to fill out in the next three years.<\/p>\n

Sam Vecenie\u2019s draft guide summary<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Why Darryn Peterson’s best basketball is still ahead of him<\/div>\n
Sam Vecenie<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/Ko2NKLLBQN1CTbw\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/Ko2NKLLBQN1CTbw\/”,”name”:”Why Darryn Peterson’s best basketball is still ahead of him”,”description”:”Sam Vecenie breaks down why Darryn Peterson remains one of the most talented guard prospects of the last decade, showcasing the three-level scoring ability and shot creation that make him a potential NBA star.”,”uploadDate”:”2026-06-09T20:03:50.566Z”,”duration”:”PT2M3S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/Ko2NKLLBQN1CTbw\/4E1casqnVYnK.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/Ko2NKLLBQN1CTbw\/4E1casqnVYnK\/4E1casqnVYnK.m3u8″,”transcript”:”Kansas’s Darren Peterson had a strange freshman year, but don’t let that fool you. It’s still one of the elite guard prospects to enter the NBA over the last decade. Here’s why Peterson is poised to be one of the truly elite scoring guards across the NBA through his prime. Peterson was as complete a guard as I’d seen by the time his high school career ended, showcasing the ability to score from all three levels, make plays for his teammates out of ball screens. He defended when he needed to lock in, but then he got to Kansas. And it felt like we just never got to see him totally at 100%. Even while dealing with an early-season hamstring strain and persistent cramping issues throughout the season, though, Peterson still averaged 20 points per game as a freshman in the Big 12, showcasing his elite-level shot-making ability. Here are a few examples of why Peterson has the potential to be such an amazing three-level scorer. On this one, Peterson gets to show off his movement without the ball. You see him relocate off of a killer defender in Ivan Karchenkov, pump fake, and hit a 1. relocation 3 with pure mechanics. Then here, you’ll see the obscene shot-making potential where Peterson’s gonna hang dribble and do a between the legs crossover, rise up wrong-footed for the 3 with seconds left in the first half, realign in midair, and he’s gonna drill a 3 there. Then on this one, he catches a ball screen to get a switch, hits a quick between the legs crossover, plays through the bump, drives, pump fakes, gets to the middle for a nice little mid-range jumper to showcase that in-between game, and then in this one, he catches a crossover, he takes a screen, splits the coverage really quickly, goes up off of 2 ft through Xavier Edmonds, takes the contact, finishes with the offhand lefty layup. Peterson’s suddenness and the herky-jerky style of his handle blended with real footwork and polish kind of reminds me of Donovan Mitchell just in terms of the body movements. That’s the kind of elite-level scoring guard that I think we’re talking about with Peterson, assuming that he gets over these hamstring and cramping issues from this season.”,”ineligibleRegion”:[“BI”,”BY”,”CD”,”CF”,”CU”,”IQ”,”IR”,”KP”,”LB”,”LY”,”ML”,”NI”,”RU”,”SD”,”SO”,”SS”,”SY”,”UA”,”VE”,”YE”,”ZW”],”publisher”:{“@type”:”NewsMediaOrganization”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher”,”name”:”The Athletic”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/”,”foundingDate”:”2016-01-25″,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”url”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”creditText”:”The Athletic”,”height”:”60″,”width”:”435″},”publishingPrinciples”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/”,”sameAs”:”https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic”},”author”:[{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Sam Vecenie”}]}<\/p>\n
\n
\n