Darryn Peterson is roughly a month away from hearing his name called during the NBA Draft. The question is where will he go? Is he still one of the top two NBA Draft prospects? If not, it could be because his cramping problem has been debunked once again (kind of). Peterson became a national spectacle not just because of his skills, but because he had a lingering cramping issue that jaded his rookie season at Kansas.
Peterson came out saying that his cramping episodes were supposedly caused by excess creatine in his system. While that’s not necessarily wrong, the way in which he explained it and the medical way for it to be proved weren’t quite the same. That alone could cause questions by NBA scouts.
The biggest question is why did it take to the end of the season to determine this, and if his cramping was this big of an issue, why was it allowed to become an ongoing problem to begin with? Was it negligence or simply a misdiagnosis? If there are some underlying medical issues that have gone unnoticed, how much will that affect Peterson’s draft stock? The cramping issues don’t seem to be resolved, which could be a red flag to NBA front offices who have a top pick in June’s draft.
Should NBA front offices be nervous about unresolved cramping problems?
In the deseret.com story, they do explain that there might have been a mix-up in medical terminology used by Peterson when explaining the cramping issue. Therefore, it’s not necessarily unresolved, but the more clarity that is needed, the more you start to question what’s fact vs. not.
What would Peterson and his camp be wanting to hide? In the Deseret story, the writer mentioned that when he was hospitalized, he would have had a blood test taken, and that could have discovered some problems. The increased creatine levels in his body could have been caused by one of two things, both of which can be found through blood tests.
The fact that this is coming out a month before the draft makes it feel like another red flag and risk that an NBA franchise would be taking. I would hesitate before using a high pick on Peterson without vetting the extent of the cramping problems he had at Kansas.
Is Darryn Peterson still a top two NBA Draft prospect?
When he was at his best, Peterson was the No. 1 prospect ahead of both Cam Boozer and AJ Dybantsa. That was back in high school. Now the tide has shifted toward Dybantsa being the No. 1 prospect among them. Part of that has to do with Peterson’s dramatic season at Kansas. He subbed himself out of games because of his lingering cramping issue. He didn’t look like the same explosive version of himself that thrived at Prolific Prep. How much will that factor into his draft stock?
I don’t think it will affect his stock at this point, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see him not reach the potential he was supposed to have in the NBA. Peterson has said numerous times how the worst of his cramping episodes—which landed him in the hospital—is still a mental block for him to get past. If he can’t shake that now, it’s going to affect the start of his NBA career and maybe longer.
That’s the risk these NBA teams are taking. The potential can be there, but the red flags are popping up on Peterson. Using a high pick on him feels more like a risk than not.
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