Darryn Peterson, a top NBA draft prospect, has provided a surprising explanation for health concerns raised by teams. Despite being a standout player from Kansas, his availability during the season has been questioned.
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Kansas star Darryn Peterson offered up a wild explanation to ease the concerns of some teams ahead of next month’s NBA Draft.
To many basketball evaluators, there were no more exciting NBA prospects in the 2025-26 college basketball season than the Jayhawks guard. The freshman is one of the most polished scorers in the country. He has a fantastic mid-range game but can also be a force going to the basket and from three. But he doesn’t need to be a ball hog and can be dangerous without it.
Furthermore, the 6-foot-5 guard has the wingspan of a 6-foot-10 player, and it plays a key role — along with his athleticism — in why he is also a difference maker on the defensive side of the ball. He has the potential to be a perennial All-Star at the next level. However, there was one major knock against him in his lone season at Kansas: His availability.
Of the Jayhawks’ 35 games, Peterson missed 11 of them, and there were instances where he asked out of games while on heaters. It created questions about how dedicated he was to winning when cramps often seemed to be the excuse.
Well, this week, Peterson tried to quiet some of the doubters about being a top-three selection in June’s draft with an explanation for the cramping issues. The 19-year-old told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that “a new round of bloodwork and other tests” by doctors during the pre-draft process discovered that creatine was the culprit in his cramping.
Teams are worried about Darryn Peterson's availability during his season at Kansas, which he addressed with a unique explanation.
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“I’d never taken it before, but after the season, I took two weeks off, and they did tests which showed my baseline level was already high,” he said. “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.”
Peterson revealed that his cramping got so bad at a Kansas boot camp in September that he feared he might die.
“I made it to the training room and just started begging them to call 911,” Peterson recalled about the cramping he felt in his legs, stomach, back, arms, and hands. “They were trying to get a vein to get me the IV, get me back hydrated. But I was cramping so hard they couldn’t get a vein. I thought I was going to die on the training table that day.”
In recent mock drafts, Peterson is projected to go to the Indiana Pacers or Brooklyn Nets in Round 1 of the NBA Draft.
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