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By Megan Armstrong
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Darryn Peterson is ready to put his tumultuous year at Kansas behind him, and it will officially be in the rearview once his name is called at the 2026 NBA Draft in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday night.
But first, Peterson would like to clarify something.
Peterson appeared on "The Kevin O'Connor Show," where O'Connor asked him to describe his leadership style, citing Peterson's past self-diagnosis as an "anti-social loner."
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"I'll address that, too: I used the wrong words at the time," Peterson said. "What I meant, I was more to myself during that time, [with] what I had going on. I wasn't really looking for help. I was trying to figure it out on my own. I should have said that. But [I'm] definitely not anti-social or a loner. If you ask people that are around me, they know I'm funny and outgoing, so I definitely used the wrong words at a time."
Peterson added that he definitely prefers to "lead by example."
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In late February, Peterson told reporters, "Somebody's had something to say probably after every game this year, so I don't really pay attention to it anymore. [...] I've kind of been an antisocial loner my whole life, so I kind of just deal with it on my own."
Persistent health issues forced Peterson to miss 11 games in his lone season starring as a guard for the Kansas Jayhawks. In March, the Kansas City Star's Shreyas Laddha reported that Peterson had suffered from severe enough cramping earlier in the season that he needed to go to the hospital to receive two bags of IV fluids.
In early May, Peterson disclosed to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that his doctors discovered the root of his debilitating cramps was his usage of "high doses of creatine."
"I'd never taken it before [going to college]," Peterson told Shelburne. "But after the season, I took two weeks off, and they did tests which showed my baseline level was already high. So, they said when I dosed [a process of increasing a dose over time to create maximum benefit at the beginning of taking a supplement], it must've made the levels unsafe."
With that sorted, Peterson can get back to focusing on maximizing his generational talent in the NBA.
Peterson has long been evaluated as a top-3 pick in this year's draft class. The Washington Wizards own the No. 1 overall pick, followed by the Utah Jazz at No. 2, and the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 3. ESPN's Jeremy Woo projects the Jazz to make Peterson the No. 2 overall pick.
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