With the draft a little over a week away, we have either received big news regarding what teams may end up doing, or we’re seeing more of the posturing and media manipulation that dominates this time of the year.
It’s important
to take note of what Shams did and did not say. From this tweet, we can see that Peterson will not work out for the Jazz, for one reason or another, and will only meet with the Washington Wizards, who hold the #1 pick. Shams also says that both AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson “have believed in going #1”… whatever that means.
Before anyone jumps to conclusions, however, it is also important to recognize what this tweet does not say. It does not say why AJ and Darryn have this desire to go #1 overall. Is it the glory of going first that means something to them? Maybe the extra 8 million they’d get on their rookie contract? The tweet is not clear on this. Shams is not saying that Darryn would hate to play in Utah, or that AJ would love to. There is much that is left unsaid.
Additionally, it doesn’t teach us anything about the thought process of the Jazz in relation to Darryn Peterson’s decision. In fact, during their recent mock draft which came out this morning after the Shams report, they still have the Jazz selecting Peterson at 2 – read their rationale below.
This mock draft writeup is where we can start to find really valuable information. Woo writes that teams are assuming that neither Peterson and Dybantsa will fall below the Jazz at pick #2 – unfortunate news for all of the Boozer truthers. He also writes that “although Peterson does not plan to visit Utah before the draft, that is not considered by rival teams to be a major factor in whether the Jazz will select him”. This is huge; the Jazz seem to not be intimidated by media posturing, and will select the highest rated player on their board no matter what. They have history with this type of drafting – in 2025, they were unable to get Ace Bailey in for a workout, and selected him anyway. He had a relatively successful rookie year and seems to be enjoying himself in Utah.
My opinion? While it is unfortunate that Peterson won’t come in for a meeting with the franchise, I think this is much ado about nothing. Winning cures a lot of misgivings (if those misgivings even exist), so as long as Peterson is not planning to pull an Eli Manning and say he won’t report to the team if we select him, I agree with the Jazz in not considering this report a major data point in their decision making process.
Are you still excited to take Peterson at #2 after this report? What do you think the end goal of his camp is? Sound off below!
