The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery will take place this Sunday (May 10) at 3:00 p.m. E.T. at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center, as one of the most anticipated draft orders in recent memory will finally be revealed after an intense season of tanking that saw an NBA-record nine teams lose over 55 games to maximize their draft positions.
The pre-season choice to be the No. 1 pick was Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson, as Peterson is a 6’5″ combo guard with a high ceiling as a two-way monster in the NBA. However, his reputation took a hit over the NCAA season as Peterson struggled with mysterious injuries, which caused him to miss 11 games and force himself to be substituted out of multiple games over the season.
Peterson finally revealed what was going on with his health over the season in an interview with ESPN’s Ramona Shelbourne. The 19-year-old guard, who’s still expected to go top three in the 2026 Draft, revealed that he started consuming creatine to increase his muscle strength when he got to college, which led to Peterson having a major health scare where he thought he would die.
“I’d never taken it before [he got to college]. But after the season, I took two weeks off and they did tests which showed my baseline level was already high. 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. I made it to the training room and just started begging them to call 911. 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.”
This incident took place during Bill Self’s preseason camp for the Jayhawks in September, and it left a deep impact on Peterson, who averaged 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.4 steals over his freshman season with the Jayhawks.
The fear of feeling like the way he did on the training table in September is what made him leave games when he felt like he was cramping up or about to have another incident, but this time in front of a national TV audience.
“Whenever I felt anything like that come on, my initial thought was that it might get to that again. And I can’t let that happen and be embarrassed and have that on TV and all that. It kind of put me in a tizzy because I didn’t know what was causing it. Nothing’s ever been wrong with me before. Basketball is my life. What I love to do. But something was going on, and I couldn’t figure it out. My biggest thing was I’m going to keep trying because we don’t know what’s wrong, and we can’t say something’s wrong. So, I’m going to go out there, and when it happens, I’m going to ask to come out. I don’t know if that was the right or wrong move.”
Peterson’s draft status might be permanently affected by what happened over the NCAA season, especially because most mock drafts have AJ Dybantsa of BYU as the projected No. 1 pick now, with Peterson at No. 2. This is considered a draft with a clear top-four, with Duke’s Cameron Boozer and Kentucky’s Caleb Wilson also in the mix.
All four prospects could interchangeably go among the top four spots, but it does seem like Dybantsa and Peterson are competing for No. 1. Whoever is picked will likely be a result of team needs, depending on how the lottery pans out, so it’ll be fascinating to see how one of the most anticipated drafts in recent years plays out on June 23, 2026.
