Darryn Peterson has become more and more the talk of the basketball world. Peterson, the Kansas freshman who turned 19, entered the basketball season as the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft. The 6’5 combo-guard is averaging an absurd 22 points on 50% from the field and a resounding 40% from the three-point line. Not only is he a ridiculous scorer, but he’s also averaging 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists, along with an insane 32.9 PER rating. Peterson was a top high school basketball prospect who attended several schools, including Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in Ohio, Huntington Prep in West Virginia, and finally Prolific Prep in Napa, California, where he finished his senior year, becoming the 2025 Naismith High School Player of the Year before committing to the University of Kansas.
After coming in as the favorite to go number 1 in June’s draft, Peterson’s college career started shaky with a pulled hamstring, sidelining Peterson for nine of Kansas’ first 14 games of the season. Peterson returned to the lineup full-time on January 3rd and has played in every game since, scoring fewer than 20 just once since his return. His play, including most recently a 30-point night on 11-for-13 shooting against Baylor, has led the talk around Peterson in basketball communities and online circles to grow, and deservingly so. People online have made comparisons to Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and even Michael Jordan. One Kansas fan said that he will be a fringe All-NBA player by year 4 in the league. Peterson is one of the best guard prospects basketball has ever seen, and there is simply no denying that. But there is a serious question about whether a player this young, who has played so little basketball, can meet the expectations being placed on him.
This conversation must start with the obvious: YES, Darryn Peterson deserves hype, a lot of it. The reason is simply that it’s rare to see a guy at 18, now 19, with that kind of NBA body and the shot-making ability. He’s pretty comfortably 1.01 in this class if he’s not medically red-flagged. In a guards league, a guy who can step and average between 15 and 20 points a night provides a high floor for any prospect. Combine that with his insane defensive prowess, elite athleticism, and high IQ, and you have a can-not-miss prospect. But prospects as elite as this are still prospects, not guarantees.
Peterson has shades of all the excellent guard prospects to come out, including Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, and Cade Cunningham. The best comparison for Peterson I have seen is John Wall, one of the most explosive players in college basketball history. The 6’4 combo-guard was also the clear number one pick from his shifty scoring and can’t miss athleticism, along with being described as “one of the best defensive point guards in the league when healthy” per HoopsHype from 2010. Wall also heavily relied on PNR actions, making his playmaking potential more intriguing to scouts. Peterson is also an elite on- and off-ball skilled scorer who has been a top defensive prospect at every level, and he became a standout PNR creator in his last year and a half of HS. Guys like Luka, Edwards, and even Cunningham were not coming into the draft with as high a defensive IQ or Motor as Wall did, and Peterson does.
What sets Peterson apart is his elite and ridiculous shot-making. The closest pure scorer that comes close to Peterson out of college is Kyrie Irving. While Irving only played in 11 games in college and did not average the 22 that Peterson does, the tough shot-making is what got Irving taken at number one, despite the injury. Irving averaged 17.5 points in college on a similar 55% from the field, 40% from the 3-point line, just as Peterson is doing now. Irvings’ scoring also looks like Peterson’s, two players who get to their spots and can work on or off the ball in isolation or off screens, manipulating the defense at will. When it comes to simply putting the ball in the basket, the volume and efficiency, and the process of both of these insane players, the scoring-wise similarities are apparent. Tough shot-making makes a more attractive prospect, but that’s hard to replicate in the NBA.
However, if you’re a basketball fan, you will remember that both John Wall and Kyrie Irving came with their flaws once they arrived in the league. Wall, who was described as the best guard prospect since Kobe Bryant in 2010, didn’t even win rookie of the year and wasn’t an All-Star until year four. Kyrie, as great a player as he has been, has made only 2 All-NBA teams in his career. This was all happening in 2010 and 2011, when the league and scoring as a whole were maybe half as talented as they are today. The NBA is the most talented it’s ever been, and we see it every year in different places, especially with these high-level scorers.
What could set Peterson apart from other top-end guard prospects of the past is his ability to dominate players his age. Look at his tape against top talent in his class. When he was at Prolific Prep, he could get anywhere he wanted against the top prep programs. He gave AJ Dybansta and Cameron Boozer, the other two top prospects of this draft, fits in high school. That, along with his composure, leadership, and basketball IQ, is what will be the separator between him and guys like Wall, Irving, Brandon Roy, Cade Cunningham, and any other elite guard prospect from the past quarter-century. DP is the real thing.
However, the hype should be toned down, just a tad. The curb you have to jump to adjust to NBA talent is more significant than people think. There are so many good scores and players in that league that Peterson doing this against 19-year-olds doesn’t guarantee you anything, and shoehorning in a prospect that isn’t Wemby or LeBron to be a fringe all-NBA guy for his entire career after year three or four just constitutes as overhype for me. Remember, this is not us saying his game will not translate, and Peterson is not going to be a fantastic player. His game will translate,e and he will be an outstanding player for a long time. The thing is, the NBA has so much talent and so many great scorers and players that it’s simply hard to separate them into that top group. Being one of the 15 best players on the planet, scoring 20 points by itself doesn’t do that anymore, in my opinion. Obviously, Pe Peterson does more than that, but so did other prospects. The scoring difference with this kid is the issue, and scoring isn’t the separator in this league; it used to be.
The bottom line is that Darryn Peterson is the best prospect of this class, and will continue to be talked about as one of, if not the, prized possession of this upcoming draft. Players who are simply talented at scoring the ball do not come around every year, and it is hard to find versatile scorers to build around. You will, without a doubt, hear his name called first or second in June’s draft. You absolutely should watch this kid play at Kansas, and he will undoubtedly have a long professional career. The hype should continue, but the expectations for this kid’s career need to be managed. Comparing Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant is not fair to the young player yet. We have seen so many talented players go so high that they barely scratched the surface of whatever expectations they had out of college. Peterson might be better than all those players combined in college, but even then, it guarantees nothing. However, predicting Peterson to be anything but one of the best prospects of all time is disrespectful and untrue. Peterson continues his college career at Kansas Tuesday night against Colorado, where the bottom teams in the league will continue to monitor him, his game, and his health.
