Darryn Peterson injury: Could Kansas star, top NBA prospect, miss Duke showdown?

Kansas freshman guard Darryn Peterson, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, will miss the “immediate future” due to a hamstring injury, coach Bill Self told reporters after his team’s 76-57 win over Princeton on Saturday. Peterson has missed his team’s last two games due to the injury, and his status for Kansas’ big game against No. 4 Duke on Tuesday remains unclear.

“It’s clear we’re not going to have it, at least not in the near future,” Self said. “I just don’t know how long that will be.”

One of the most touted high school players in years, Peterson made his collegiate debut against Green Bay earlier this month and finished with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. In his last appearance against North Carolina on the road, 247Sports’ No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting cycle scored a season-high 22 points in an 87-74 loss.

Reporters themselves said this earlier this week Peterson’s hamstring problem continues for “weeks”, but he played through it. Notably, Peterson did not complete an exhibition game against Louisville due to a cramp issue and also left the second half against Green Bay due to cramps.

“He played with it.” I said it myself earlier this week. “But it’s still painful. The medical staff and everyone thinks it’s something that’s going to heal and get better. But the reality is, after the Carolina game, you guys remember that first outburst he had when he stole the ball and had the layup for the first two points of the game. He didn’t do anything bad about it, but he said it just felt different since then, like tight. That’s all it is, is tightness.”

Peterson has the fourth-best odds (+950) behind Duke’s Cameron Boozer, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and Purdue’s Braden Smith to become National Player of the Year, per FanDuel.

What makes Darryn Peterson elite N.B.A expectation?

Peterson has begun to create some division among his peers in becoming the NBA’s No. 1 overall pick this summer. However, if you ask ten people who closely follow the draft to predict the first three picks in the draft, you might get ten different answers. While the top pick has been dominated by forwards, wings and bigs in recent years, Peterson has a chance to be the exception.

Inside CBS Sports’ NBA Draft prospect list by Adam FinkelsteinPeterson was ranked No. 1, ahead of BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Boozer – both of whom are wings/forwards at the NBA level.

He finished as the top-ranked prospect in last year’s recruiting class and starts this draft cycle in the same spot. Peterson is a big, playmaking guard who continues to improve every year. His overlap of positional size, length, power and shot creation is unparalleled in the class. In fact, he might be the best interior point guard we’ve seen in several draft cycles. If the shooting we’ve seen early on in Kansas proves sustainable, he could be even better than expected.

The last guard selected No. 1 overall was Cade Cunningham in 2021. Since 2010, only six prospects who have gone No. 1 have been classified as guards. Although Cooper Flagg was used as a point guard by the Dallas Mavericks during the first few weeks of his NBA career, he is a traditional wing at the NBA level.

Part of the intrigue surrounding Peterson is his potential to become a volume scorer at the NBA level. Peterson is also a talented defensive player who can defend at a high level due to his size and athleticism. But what stands out most – and why he could ultimately become No. 1 – is his passing ability, which is unparalleled in this class.

Peterson has what it takes to be a top scorer at the next level.

What does Darryn Peterson’s injury mean for Kansas?

Losing Peterson for any length of time would be a major problem for the Jayhawks, who are currently ranked No. 25 in the AP Top 25. It’s no secret that Kansas has struggled to generate offense without Peterson on the floor. Peterson was the primary ball handler on the offense and is the go-to scorer for the Jayhawks.

Even with the leap that sophomore forward Flory Bidunga has made in the offense, there is a notable absence without Peterson in the lineup. Without Peterson, Kansas will rely more on veteran guard Tre White, who transferred to the program from Illinois in the offseason. He is averaging 10.0 points in three games, which ranks third on his team.

Darryn Peterson could miss the showdown with Cameron Boozer

If Peterson misses next week’s game against Duke, it would be a major loss for the Jayhawks and college basketball fans as a whole. The matchup between Peterson and Boozer – who is also in the top three this summer – would have been a matchup that college basketball fans haven’t seen in years during the regular season.

The last time players faced each other in the regular season and also ended up in the top three of the same NBA Draft was in 2021. That year, Duke’s Paolo Banchero – the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft – took on Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren (the No. 2 pick) in an epic showdown.

Since 2010, there have been six instances where top three picks have faced each other during the regular season and the NCAA Tournament. The most recent example came last spring, when Flagg and Duke faced Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe (the No. 3 pick) in the second round.