Quick NBA Draft Thoughts

The NBA Draft was once an annual opportunity for a lengthy, rambling post where I pretended to be Bill Simmons or some other national writer. Or at least that’s how my first ever blog post here went.

2026 seemed like a year to jump back into that routine, as a Kansas Jayhawk was poised to be selected at the top of the draft.

Alas, this was no ordinary college player, or at least he did not have an ordinary season. Thus I was not as invested in Darryn Peterson’s draft status as I have been past Jayhawks.

Also a neighbor invited me over to have a drink and sit by the fire pit for a bit, so I watched the first three picks of the draft and then scampered across the street.

While I did not watch the actual draft closely, between the podcasts of Simmons, Zach Lowe, and a few others, I’ve been monitoring the drama around the top four picks closely. Peterson’s situation might have been the most fun part of the process.

Predictably the vibes were all over the place for DP over the past week. A couple analysts insisted he was back in the running to be the #1 pick, as his medicals had all come back clean, his individual workouts had been great, he seemed healthy, and the teams he met with were impressed with his demeanor. Then others suggested he might fall to fourth or even lower as teams still had questions about all of that.

I’m old enough to know this is all posturing and pure speculation. The angle I trusted most was the argument that a lot of GMs at the top of the draft were terrified of missing out on DP if he is indeed healthy, motivated, and focused. AJ Dybantsa will be a very good NBA player, possibly a great one. Cam Boozer will be a solid one for 15 years. Caleb Wilson might be a supernova who takes a year or two to find his place, burns brightly for a couple years, then fades out. But Peterson is the only player of those four who has perennial first team All NBA potential. If you take Boozer ahead of him, you’re going to be kicking yourself as he puts up 14 and 6 every night while DP is averaging close to 30.

Given all that, the draft went exactly as I expected. Or at least the top four picks. Dybansta fits into what the Wizards are doing and has less risk than DP. The Jazz already have a loaded front court and need a versatile wing to go with Keyonte George. Plus Danny Ainge doesn’t give a crap about any baggage DP has; he sees a massive talent that had a weird five months and deserves the chance to prove himself again.

I liked that Peterson wore a subdued, traditional suit. He was all about business and demonstrating that no matter what happened at KU, he is serious about the next step. He’s not the warmest, most outgoing kid in the world, but I thought it was a good sign he seemed genuinely interested in greeting all the folks that interviewed him after the pick was announced. He shook everyone’s hands. I spent five months over-analyzing this kid’s body language and demeanor, I couldn’t help myself.

We will likely never know the whole story of what caused his issues this past season.[1] Because of how weird that season was, I don’t think any KU fans are going to have anything close to the emotional investment in DP’s NBA success we would have had if he was a “normal” one-and-done player. And, let’s be honest, even with those guys the attachment is not all that great. If they do well, like Joel Embiid did for about four years, we love them. If they start off slow and only have isolated moments of excellence, like Andrew Wiggins, we aren’t nearly as excited about their NBA careers as we are when players stay on campus for three or four years. When players spend eight months on campus, they never become true parts of the community. Especially now with the private, athletic dorms and most athletes taking online courses much of the year.

Peterson’s case is unique because if he does blow up, us Jayhawks fans will probably spend as much time lamenting what we didn’t get from his brief time in Lawrence than celebrate what he’s doing in Salt Lake City.

Sports are dumb, and being a fan is a terrible choice for how to spend your free time.