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It’s the end of May and Darryn Peterson is scrolling through his notes app while sitting inside the USA Academy in Glendale, CA. After spending the entire summer on the West Coast preparing for the NBA Draft, the 6-5 guard is in search of a very specific list that he kicked off just over four years ago. After just a few swipes, he reads out the title of the note from May 4, 2022: “Trying to Go Pro!”

The very first entry wishes for his parents to not work a day past 45 years old. Check. Next, stay ranked in the top five of his high school class. Check. Then he reads out three words: “Work. Work. Work.” Below the string of words resides Giving 110 percent effort every day, followed by healthy eating habits, constant stretching and drinking lots of water. Four straight checks. 

“I don’t think I was dunking at the time, so Dunk Everything was on there. Get my jump shot to be automatic. Don’t miss free throws. Thank the Lord every day. And never get outworked,” Darryn continues.

Darryn Peterson has never found anyone who could match the latter, as he goes through the list mentally checking off each entry one at a time. But last night, the second overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft got to reopen the notes app and finally check off that top line. Darryn Peterson is an NBA pro. And if you knew anything about the journey to get here, you’d understand just how much of a full-circle moment returning to his mindset from the spring of 2022 was.

“When I wrote it, I thought I was going to do it. Blessed to be able to do it,” Darryn tells us after placing his phone back in his pocket. “It feels crazy, but at the same time, it was what I wanted, so I was going to get it.”

The game of basketball has been one of many constants in Peterson’s life, just like the role his family played in helping him reach the highest stage in hoops. There isn’t one singular place where the Canton, OH, native fell in love with the game. Instead, he ties those memories to the dozens of gyms and spaces that have housed his work ethic over the years. “Basketball has been all I’ve known my whole life,” he says.

“My dad was a coach. My older brother played. My whole family played. It was kind of all I knew. I’d say I really started to chase it and really want something, probably 6th, 7th, 8th grade. Going into high school is when I really started to get serious about it, [want to] one day be in the League and be one of the faces of the League.”

The goal to be the next cornerstone of the NBA started in Northeast Ohio, where Darryn traces the roots of his game back to the local legend of McKinley Field House, his Hartford Middle School gym and workouts at the Martin Center. The confidence that’s baked into his game and resulted in a career-high 61-point performance in one high school game and a 20.2 ppg scoring average as a freshman at Kansas was built in those spaces alongside a myriad of others and the tutelage of his father. 

If those walls could talk, they’d tell the stories of the theater stage that cut up his shins during box jumps. They’d reflect on the hours upon hours spent lifting with his brother’s football teammates, who were twice his size. The 108 stairs at Monument Park would reminisce on his grueling weekend conditioning circuit. The hardwood that hosted his dad’s middle school team practices would detail the dominance he showed against kids a few years older than him. And the kitchen tiles in his childhood home would say that the bounce on display in Allen Fieldhouse last season started next to the stove and pantry. “Just all types of stuff that I think ended up helping me be who I am and helping me have the confidence that I do,” Darryn says.

The Utah Jazz’s latest draft pick has consistently trained in the face of adversity, from building his vertical on a theater stage to strategically playing up a few grades. The work he’s banked over the years represents more than just an ulterior confidence—one that’s shifted his Bucket Jones moniker from his AAU days to something more akin to the Boogie Man striking fear into opposing defenders–it’s an assurance that the fire he walked through hardened his pedigree. 

“Knowing that I can get through tough stuff, like, regardless of what it is, as a basketball player, you’re going to go through stuff that you can’t control,” Darryn says. “But just, like, this year, I know I can get through it and face it and come out on top.”

Darryn Peterson’s freshman season in Lawrence, KS, was the hottest topic of discussion throughout the college basketball season. From the middle of November through February, the college basketball ecosystem, social media and pundits on TV questioned his commitment to the game, his team and his future with the rock. Except it was a string of injuries and a hospitalization for overly intense cramps due to large creatine supplement doses that saw him sidelined as he learned to trust his body once again. 

“Part of the reason I picked Kansas was the culture and just being one of the most historic arenas in the world. I went out there, and I gave it my all and I feel like they showed up and gave me their all,” Darryn says. “I had a lot of fun. I had a great time at Kansas. [It] didn’t end how I wanted [it] to. I wanted to get a championship. I just got that under my belt and now I’m ready for the League.”

Keep the questions coming, but the Jazz don’t have any. They watched him shoot a scintillating 38.2 percent from deep, maneuver around the midrange like it was his second home—because it has been for years—and dice up defenses with the makings of a dual threat in the backcourt. Moments like his 11-13 shooting performance against Baylor, his 32-piece against TCU and swiping 5 steals against Arizona State weren’t glimpses into his future; they were statements in the face of hardship. 

“I don’t know, I feel like when I match up versus guys, they worry about me. Like in the movies, the Boogie Man, you was worried about him, so that’s how I got that from. And what’s next? I don’t know. We’re going to see what I get to in the League, what’s to come,” Darryn says. “Kobe’s got Black Mamba. I need something like that.”

A silent assassin mentality takes hold every time Darryn’s kicks reach the court. His emotions don’t sway, and most of the time, the stoic expression on his face remains consistent for all 40 minutes. Except when we ask him to describe a song that best represents his on-court mentality, a stark tonal shift takes over the gym as he rummages through the expletive lyrics of Drake’s Worst Behavior off Nothing Was the Same.

Muf***** never loved us. So everywhere we go now, full cup. Always hated the boy, but now the boy is the man, muf*****, I done growed up.

“If you’re watching this, just go listen to ‘Worst Behavior’ and you’ll know how I think,” Darryn says. 

Read into the lyrics as much as you’d like. Darryn’s not going to dive in too much deeper, aside from alluding to the gargantuan-sized chip carved into his shoulder. The 17-year-old who first visited the SLAM HQ as a junior while attending Huntington Prep and envisioned himself in Andrew Wiggins’ place on the cover of SLAM 167 has evolved. Grown up. 

The underbaked takes and wide-ranging speculation from this past season only amplified the type of time that he’ll be on as a rookie. In the months leading up to his own SLAM cover and sitting inside the NBA Draft green room, that chip has fueled an extended focus on playing with, and learning to adapt, to the physicality of the League. He’s got to be able to take hits, and dish them out, too, all while stepping into the next chapter of his life with the same dominant attitude that he’s had since his middle school days. So while the world doubted, Darryn was quietly taking stock so that when the moment’s just right, he can look down the lens and say, “Remember?”

“People are going to have opinions on me and stuff because of what I went through and all that. You know, I think I’m a pretty cool guy. A big brother to my siblings and son to my parents, a good friend, someone people can count on. But now I’m an NBA player, so a whole new shift in my life and lifestyle. But basketball has always been the main thing for me. I keep it the main thing. Worked my butt off my entire life and I’ll continue to do that. It’s part of my dream, but I have a lot more that I’m chasing, and I’ll continue to do that,” Darryn told reporters during his post-draft interview.

In high school, the NBA’s iconic chime for the pick is in was saved directly to his phone. For a stretch, there wasn’t a day that went by where Darryn didn’t have the audio on replay. “I’ve lowkey been dreaming about it. I just see me being down there at the table with the fam,” Darryn says. “I feel like it’s going to be like déjà vu.”

The same déjà vu that overcame him inside of the gym in Los Angeles this past spring when he looked at how far his goal sheet has seen him grow. And even though he’s his own one-of-one hooper, that hasn’t stopped those from searching for comparisons in his game. 

But as Darryn thinks back to this past season, there’s one aspect that he’s truly excited about expanding.

“I think I really guard. This past year, I didn’t really get to guard a whole bunch because of everything going on. Like, I can really sit. I can go guard the best player on the other team and give him buckets, too,” Darryn says.

As the four-year anniversary of his “goals” note passes just after we sat down for his interview in May, it’s safe to say a new one is on the way for the next chapter of Darryn’s life. And with a flurry of firsts awaiting him in his rookie season, that notes app is about to become filled with entries that one day soon will be checked off too.

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Portraits by Bradley Meinz. Action photos via Getty Images.