According to Ben Anderson, Darryn Peterson’s camp is “very confident they are going #1,” and this is the reason for the change of plans to work out with the Utah Jazz.
Does this mean that Darryn Peterson is avoiding Utah because he doesn’t want to play in Utah? It doesn’t look it. It appears that this has everything to do with him wanting to be the #1 pick.
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From Anderson:
…there has been “plenty of communication” between the Jazz and Peterson, and the Kansas guard was not “trying to avoid Utah at all.”
This is definitely the biggest tell that maybe the Wizards aren’t as locked in on AJ Dybantsa at #1 as we thought. Shams Charania has also continued to talk about this story and says that “both AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson believe they will be the #1 pick in the draft.”
How this affects the Jazz is who they end up drafting. It has been clear since before the NBA lottery that the two best prospects in this draft are Dybantsa and Peterson. When Utah landed the #2 pick on lottery night, their pick was always going to depend on who the Wizards picked at #1. So, how this changes things for Utah is whether they are printing Dybantsa or Peterson jerseys next season.
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On a side note, the idea that Utah would somehow pick Boozer at #2 keeps getting floated by NBA media like Bill Simmons and Kevin O’Connor, but this has always been a two-man draft at the top between Dybantsa and Peterson. Utah will get whoever the Wizards don’t pick, and you can bet they will be happy either way.
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