Peterson is the most dynamic guard in this draft class, and potentially one of the best on-ball creators we’ve seen in the backcourt in several draft classes. He came into the 2025-26 college season as a consensus top three prospect after averaging 30.4 points, 7.4 assists, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.2 steals as a high school senior at Prolific Prep. While the narratives around his freshman season at Kansas have centered around his time missed, he’s continued his pattern of making clear gains with each passing year, despite rarely playing with the full explosiveness that we saw in high school.
About
No. 1 prospect in the national 2025 recruiting class, Naismith High School Player of the Year, and Co-MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Second Team All-Big 12 after averaging 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists.
Missed 11 games due to a combination of hamstring and ankle injuries, cramping, and flu-like symptoms.
Strengths
Was a dynamic creator in high school with an overlap of positional size, length, strength, and playmaking ability.
Drastically improved shot-making, and ability to make tough shots, off both the catch and the dribble. Ranked in the 94th percentile as a catch-and-shoot threat and made 43.7% of his guarded catch-and-shoot jumpers.
If he can merge the creation he showed in high school with the shot-making he showed at Kansas, he can potentially score and make plays at all three-levels. Even in his injury plagued season at Kansas, he ranked in the 89th percentile in isolations and 99th percentile spotting up, demonstrating his versatility.
Weaknesses
Availability and durability are the two biggest concerns given the amount of time he missed or was noticeably less than 100% this year at Kansas.
High usage player who rarely showed the same playmaking for others, or even on-ball initiating, as he did in high school, and was a bit of a ball-stopper at times in the half-court. Had a usage rate of 30.8% and an assist rate of just 12.4%.
Didn’t see the pick-and-roll navigation at Kansas that we did during his high school career, ranking in just the 43rd percentile.
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