Bill Self didn’t come away from Darryn Peterson’s summer league run declaring it a breakout, but he also didn’t miss the upside.
As Peterson drew plenty of eyes in the NBA’s summer slate, Self watched closely and came away with a measured read on the former Kansas guard, who was selected No. 2 overall in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft by Utah after the Jazz passed on AJ Dybantsa at No. 1. The attention around Peterson was only amplified by the health concerns that disrupted his season, and his July matchup against Washington became one of the more closely followed games of the summer.
Self said he saw both the good and the uneven in Peterson’s play.
“I thought he was really good, and then I thought he had his ups and downs, too,” Self said. “They played him on the ball, basically all the time, which I’m sure that’s what they want to try to look at and that kind of stuff - which I think is great and good for him.
So, it was probably a little different for him. But, I thought it was good.”
Self added that summer league can be tricky to judge because the role players and shot distribution often look nothing like what a player will see once the games count for real.
“I get a false - to me, those things are hard to evaluate because there’s many guys that play a certain way in those games, that when they get on their real team they can’t play that way because they’ve got other guys that are going to be taking those shots and all that stuff. But I actually thought he looked good, and when he’s good, to me, he’s the best player hands down.
So, I don’t think he shot it anything like he’s capable of shooting it, but you guys know as well as I do every time he shoots it, don’t you think it’s going in? So, he’s one of those guys.
So, I thought he did well. I don’t think he crushed it, but I certainly think he did everything he was supposed to do.”
Peterson’s Kansas season still carried plenty of production. He earned All-Big 12 Conference second-team honors and made the all-freshman team after averaging 20.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 24 games. Kansas finished that year by reaching the Big 12 tournament semifinals and the NCAA tournament round of 32.
Even with those numbers, Self’s larger point was clear: Peterson never had the clean, uninterrupted year Kansas hoped for because of the health issues that followed him through the season. That kept the Jayhawks from fully becoming the team they were supposed to be, too. Now Peterson is onto the NBA, and the buzz around his future remains strong.
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