Darryn Peterson Reflects on Going to Jazz with No. 2 NBA Draft Pick, Dad Talks Jersey Number

Darryn Peterson didn't always know his basketball journey would take him to the NBA draft, but his father, Darryl Peterson II, did.

"I didn't, but my pops always knew, and once I got older I started believing as well," he said during ESPN's draft coverage when asked whether he thought all the training and practice would lead him to this level after the Utah Jazz selected him with the No. 2 overall pick Tuesday.

His father was also asked about Peterson wearing No. 22 in his honor, which was the same number Peterson II wore during his playing days that included suiting up for Akron.

"It means a lot," he said. "That was my number. It shows how much he believes and respects me as a dad, and he just embraced it."

Peterson later sent a message to Jazz fans in a video:

Peterson II played five seasons at Akron from 2001-06 and even averaged better than 13 points a night in his first two seasons.

But he never reached the heights his son has after just one season at Kansas.

The younger Peterson was an All-Big 12 Second Team selection and averaged 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from the floor.

Even with questions about the time he missed during that season, the talent was simply too much to ignore.

Darryn Peterson Highlights

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And the Jazz did not ignore it and surely hope he can live up to expectations as a franchise cornerstone for the next decade or more.

Utah missed the playoffs in each of the last four seasons and went 22-60 during the 2025-26 campaign. It is fully in rebuilding mode, although Peterson gives it a building block to center all those rebuilding efforts around for the foreseeable future.

That is where his basketball journey that started with training with his father has taken him, and now he will begin the work of living up to those expectations.