With a week to go until the 2026 NBA Draft, the longstanding debate between AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson for the No. 1 overall pick — one that has raged since even before either player experienced a minute of college basketball — has not yet firmly been resolved.
While Dybantsa, a first-team All-American forward who played a distinguished season at BYU, is the odds-on favorite, multiple draft experts remain steadfast in their projections of Peterson as the No. 1 pick.
That’s despite his rather turbulent year at Kansas in which he dealt with hamstring and ankle injuries, illness and most notably a recurring and debilitating cramping issue that, in the months since the season, he has publicly attributed to ingesting high amounts of creatine, a common supplement that helps muscles contract, on top of an already high “baseline level.”
A recent article by Sarah Todd in the Deseret News cast some doubt on this particular framing by citing medical experts to note that there is no blood test to measure creatine levels and suggest Peterson might have meant high levels of creatinine or creatine kinase — which in turn prompts the question, one Todd raised, of why those issues didn’t become apparent after his much-discussed full-body cramping episode in September.
In any case, the most recent development in the world of Peterson was a report on Monday from ESPN’s Shams Charania and Jeremy Woo that he has visited the Washington Wizards, who hold the No. 1 overall pick, but will not meet with any other teams, including the Utah Jazz at No. 2.
“Peterson has informed the Jazz that he plans to take no further team visits, signaling that he is comfortable with his position and prefers to hear his name called at No. 1 with Washington,” Woo wrote in his mock draft on Monday.
Despite that, however, Woo projected Dybantsa at No. 1, citing his profile as a tall scoring wing, and Peterson at No. 2, still noting that “Peterson’s medicals have not raised major concerns with teams, clearing the way for him to hear his name called as a top-two pick” and his decision not to meet with Utah “is not considered by rival teams to be a major factor in whether the Jazz will select him.”
The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie has also slotted in Peterson as the No. 2 pick, even though he actually has him ranked third overall below Duke’s Cameron Boozer (more on that later) in a draft guide released Monday. Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley, CBS Sports’ Adam Finkelstein and his colleague Gary Parrish are among the experts whose mock drafts project Peterson to the Jazz.
SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell may be the most prominent prognosticator with Peterson still at No. 1. O’Donnell wrote on Sunday that he himself would in fact pick Boozer first overall for any given team, but added, “This draft is starting to remind (one) of the 2022 class, when everyone was so sure the Orlando Magic were picking Jabari Smith Jr. at No. 1 until they decided to take Paolo Banchero when they turned in the card. Dybantsa just leaves too much doubt outside of his scoring for a top pick. I predict the Wizards go with Peterson or Boozer, and today I’m settling on Peterson.”
The Field of 68 also held a recent live mock draft in which Tyler Metcalf of No Ceilings picked Peterson No. 1 overall for Washington, calling him “I think the best guard I’ve ever scouted since I’ve been producing content in the space.”
On the flip side, there are some analysts who believe Peterson could even drop to Memphis at No. 3. USA Today’s Bryan Kalbrosky noted that Boozer’s father Carlos works for the Jazz’s front office. Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports as of Thursday had Utah picking Boozer, essentially based on his feeling that the Jazz’s brass will be unsettled by Peterson’s season at KU.
“Questions about his burst, his availability, and what exactly is going on under the hood are going to define how NBA front offices feel about him at the top of this draft,” O’Connor wrote. “But maybe that could work to the benefit of the Grizzlies given the need for a guard and his fit as a big guard alongside Cedric Coward and the two-man actions that could develop with a skilled center like Zach Edey.”
As other experts have pointed out, though, the Boozer fit in Utah is questionable when the team already has its frontcourt loaded up with the likes of Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler.
It’s not entirely out of the question that a second Jayhawk could be selected next week in Brooklyn, New York, by the way, as Melvin Council Jr. is ranked No. 80 by The Athletic and No. 90 by ESPN, although of course there are only 60 picks.
All will be revealed soon as the NBA Draft begins June 23 at the Barclays Center.
