Kansas freshman guard Darryn Peterson, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, will be out for the “immediate future” due to a hamstring injury, coach Bill Self told reporters after his team’s 76-57 win over Princeton on Saturday. Peterson has missed his team’s last two games due to the injury, and his status for Kansas’ marquee matchup against No. 4 Duke on Tuesday remains unclear.
“We’re not obviously gonna have him, you know, at least for the immediate future,” Self said. “I just don’t know how long that’ll be.”
Peterson, one of the most highly touted guard prospects to come out of the high school ranks in years, made his collegiate debut against Green Bay earlier this month, finishing with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. In his last appearance against North Carolina on the road, 247Sports’ No. 1-ranked player in the 2025 recruiting cycle scored a season-high 22 points in a 87-74 loss.
Self told reporters earlier this week that Peterson’s hamstring issue has been lingering for “weeks,” but he has played through it. Notably, Peterson didn’t finish an exhibition game against Louisville due to a cramping issue and also exited the second half against Green Bay due to cramps.
The future is here: Meet the college basketball stars destined for the 2026 NBA Draft
Adam Finkelstein
“He’s played with it,” Self said earlier this week. “But it’s still sore. So medical staff and everybody think it’s something that’s healing and getting better. But the reality of it is, after the Carolina game, you guys remember that first burst that he had when he stole the ball and had the layup first two points of the game? He didn’t do anything bad to it, but he said it just felt different since then, like tight. That’s all it is, is tightness.”
Peterson has the fourth-best odds (+950) behind Duke’s Cameron Boozer, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and Purdue’s Braden Smith to win National Player of the Year, per FanDuel.
What makes Darryn Peterson an elite NBA prospect?
Peterson has started to create some separation among his peers to become the NBA’s No. 1 overall pick in the summer. However, if you ask 10 people who follow the draft closely to predict the first three picks in the draft, you might get 10 different answers. While the top pick has been dominated by forwards, wings and bigs in recent years, Peterson has a chance to become the exception.
In CBS Sports’ NBA Draft prospect rankings by Adam Finkelstein, Peterson was ranked No. 1, ahead of BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Boozer — both of whom are wings/forwards at the NBA level.
He finished as the top-ranked prospect in last year’s recruiting class and begins this draft cycle in the same place. Peterson is a big, playmaking guard who continues to improve each year. His overlap of positional size, length, strength and shot creation is unmatched in this class. In fact, he may be the best domestic guard we’ve seen in several draft cycles. If the shot-making we’ve seen early on at Kansas proves sustainable, he could be even better than expected.
The last guard taken with the No. 1 pick was Cade Cunningham in 2021. Since 2010, only six prospects who have gone No. 1 have been classified as a guard. Although Cooper Flagg has been utilized as a point guard through the first few weeks his NBA career by the Dallas Mavericks, he is a traditional wing at the NBA level.
Part of the intrigue around Peterson is his potential to be a volume scorer at the NBA level. Peterson is also a talented defensive prospect who can defend at a high level because of his size and athleticism. But what stands out the most — and why he may ultimately go No. 1 — is his shot making that is second to none in this class.
Peterson has all the makings to be an elite scorer at the next level.
What does Darryn Peterson’s injury mean for Kansas?
Losing Peterson for an extended period of time would be a major issue for the Jayhawks, currently ranked No. 25 in the AP Top 25. It’s no secret that Kansas has struggled to generate offense without Peterson on the floor. Peterson has served as the primary ball handler within the offense and is the go-to scorer for the Jayhawks.
Even with the jump second-year forward Flory Bidunga has taken on the offensive end, there is a notable absence without Peterson in the lineup. Without Peterson, Kansas will rely more on veteran guard Tre White, who transferred into the program in the offseason from Illinois. He is averaging 10.0 points in three games, tied for third on his team.
Darryn Peterson could miss showdown with Cameron Boozer
If Peterson does miss the game against Duke next week, it would be a major loss for the Jayhawks and college basketball fans as a whole. The matchup between Peterson and Boozer — who also projects as a top-three pick this summer — would’ve been one college basketball fans hadn’t seen in years during the regular season.
The last time players faced off in the regular season and also went in the top three of the same NBA Draft was in 2021. That year, Duke’s Paolo Banchero — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft — went up against Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren (the No. 2 pick) in an epic showdown.
There have been six instances of top-three picks facing off against each other during the regular season and the NCAA Tournament since 2010. The most recent example came this past spring, when Flagg and Duke faced Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe (the No. 3 pick) in the second round.
