NBA scouts starting to ask some tough questions about Darryn Peterson

Kansas keeps winning. Darryn Peterson keeps lighting it up. And suddenly, the conversations around him are shifting.

The Jayhawks handled Oklahoma State 81-69 on Wednesday night in Stillwater. Another road win. Another box score that looks clean.

But nobody left talking about the score.

Midway through the second half, Peterson drilled a three, turned to the bench, and appeared to signal to coach Bill Self that he needed out. Self called timeout. Peterson went to the bench. He never returned.

After the game, Self called it disappointing.

Peterson still finished with 23 points in just 19 minutes, burying six threes and looking like the best player on the floor. Kansas pulled away anyway. That part barely registered.

This has become a pattern. Peterson missed a month earlier this season with lingering hamstring issues. He sat out a marquee game against Arizona with an illness despite warming up beforehand. Now this latest episode, right as March approaches.

NBA evaluators are noticing. Multiple scouts told Hoops Wire that have begun to wonder what they are really looking at here.

One scout who represents a likely NBA Draft lottery team texted: “Is he the next O.J. Mayo?”

That is not a comp about talent. It is about trajectory. Mayo was a blue-chip high school star, a college headliner, and then … just fine in the pros.

Peterson’s talent is not in question. His background checks out, too. His high school career began at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, outside of Akron, long before the spotlight found him.

Kansas can live with nights like this. But NBA front offices are not built that way.

When availability starts showing up next to a potential No. 1 pick’s name, eyebrows go up. And right now, they are raised.