photo by: McDonald's All-American Game

Darryn Peterson at McDonald's All-American Game practice in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sunday, March 30, 2025.

The 2025 NBA Draft wrapped up on Thursday evening, and no Kansas players were selected, just the third time since 2010 that a Jayhawk’s name hasn’t been called.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that the outgoing KU seniors won’t receive decent opportunities to make in the NBA. Hunter Dickinson already signed a two-way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, and Dajuan Harris Jr. will reportedly get a chance to impress with Charlotte in the NBA Summer League.

That said, next year, KU is set to have at least one player drafted, and he will almost certainly have a significantly easier path to professional action.

Darryn Peterson, the 6-foot-5 guard from Canton, Ohio, has arrived in Lawrence facing some of the highest expectations for any KU prospect in recent memory. Head coach Bill Self, entering his 23rd season, has repeatedly and in various ways called him the best prospect he’s ever recruited.

The long ball-handling guard has unparalleled athleticism with a lightning-quick first step and a nice shooting touch to go along with it — all qualities he showed off in a trip to Lawrence in March with his high school Prolific Prep for The Grind Session circuit’s championship, a trip on which he later said he felt he didn’t play very well, even as Prolific won the title.

Now Peterson is on campus at KU and his first collegiate action is drawing closer, and his professional future is already a topic of some significant discussion.

Peterson spent much of the later days of his high school career ranked No. 2 in the 2025 recruiting class, behind Utah Prep’s elite wing AJ Dybantsa (now at BYU). By the time that career concluded at Chipotle Nationals in Indiana in April, though, there had been serious discussions about elevating him to No. 1.

In April, 247Sports announced it would do just that in its final rankings. Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein wrote: “Last summer, it was his scoring, the effortless versatility in his attack, positional size and physicality that was most impressive. Those traits are every bit as evident today. Since then, though, Peterson’s shooting has gone to new levels. He’s proven to be an elite perimeter rebounder, and his athleticism has reached unprecedented heights.”

That proved to be the only of the three recruiting services to rank him at the top of the 2025 class, as On3 left him behind Dybantsa and Rivals (soon to merge with On3) has him third behind Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer (now of Duke).

But the Dybantsa/Peterson debate also extended to NBA Draft circles, where it will undoubtedly rage for the next year if both players continue on their current trajectory.

Back in late February, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo projected Peterson as the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. They cited the increasingly organic, less forced nature of Peterson’s play as well as his victories in two head-to-head matchups against Dybantsa, including one in which Peterson scored 61 points and the game-winning 3-pointer.

“He is able to get anywhere he wants on the court with an explosive first step, the ability to change speeds powerfully and has exquisite ballhandling, pace and body control,” Givony wrote. “He generates paint touches at will, finishes skillfully with both hands and from difficult vantage points in and around the paint, and lives at the free throw line.”

Givony and Woo held firm with their No. 1 ranking for Peterson in Friday morning’s update despite Dybantsa’s “stunning performance at the USA Basketball U19 training camp a few weeks ago in Colorado Springs,” and Bleacher Report, CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated all placed Peterson No. 1 on Friday as well, indicating considerable momentum for the Jayhawk.

Meanwhile, however, while acknowledging that Peterson has “a real chance” to go No. 1, NBA Draft Room still places him at No. 2 in its update from Thursday, as did NBADraft.net on Wednesday, as did the Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News, On3, SB Nation and USA Today in their own draft boards.

Regardless, the early hype, draft-related and otherwise, demonstrates that KU can certainly go as far as it could possibly want to if Peterson lives up to billing in what will likely be his lone year in the college ranks.

Another player who will have a lot to say about the Jayhawks’ fate in the 2025-26 season is center Flory Bidunga, who Self has said is the player who needs to take “the biggest step,” and whom Peterson is eager to pair with. The 6-foot-9 center from the Democratic Republic of the Congo had moments of brilliance and stunning athleticism during a freshman season in which he primarily backed up but also occasionally started alongside the All-American Dickinson. Bidunga averaged 5.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 16.3 minutes of action per game.

Kansas forward Flory Bidunga (40) puts in a bucket against UCF during the second half on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

After briefly entering the transfer portal, he opted to return to KU, where he is expected to start at center and will need to stay out of foul trouble and improve his physicality on defense to maximize his time on the court. If Bidunga makes the leap many anticipate and reaps the benefits of playing alongside Peterson, he too could test the draft waters in 2026. Many boards exclude him for now, but he did slip into ESPN’s rankings at No. 56. NBA Draft Room has him much higher as a first-round contender at No. 22, with a player comparison to former 16-year pro Antonio McDyess, and SB Nation placed him at No. 26.

“A long-armed center with elite physical tools and athleticism,” the NBA Draft Room writeup on Bidunga reads. “Dominates around the rim and on the boards. A super quick and fluid athlete for his size who changes ends in a flash and is a high flyer.”

Bidunga is, of course, somewhat undersized for an NBA center, but does make up for it with a plus wingspan and could potentially expand his outside game in the months and years ahead.

NBA Draft Room also lists several additional Jayhawks: redshirt freshman Bryson Tiller (No. 56) and then much further down the list, redshirt sophomore Elmarko Jackson (No. 120) and freshman Samis Calderon.

The inclusion of Tiller is certainly in keeping with Self’s statement that he will be a future pro. The 6-foot-10 forward, however, is coming off a long-term ankle injury that has kept him away from competitive basketball for over a year, and is expected to return to full action in practice on July 1.

Jackson, a former McDonald’s All-American combo guard, is also attempting to return from a torn patellar tendon that cost him the entire 2024-25 season, but has been the recipient of plenty of praise from the KU program. Calderon, a forward from Brazil, may be a longer-term play.