Darryn Peterson, a projected top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, said the cramping issues that plagued his 2025-26 season at Kansas were caused by high doses of creatine, telling ESPN doctors discovered the issue after the season.
“I’d never taken (creatine) before (college),” Peterson told ESPN in an article published Friday. “But after the season, I took two weeks off and they did tests which showed my baseline level was already high. So, they said when I dosed (increasing a dose over time to create maximum benefit at the beginning of taking a supplement), it must’ve made the levels unsafe.”
Peterson, the projected No. 2 pick in the draft according to The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, missed 11 games in his freshman season and left other contests early due to what he described as full-body cramps, which came on top of a bug he caught in December, a sprained ankle in January, and flu-like symptoms in early February.
Peterson is preparing for the NBA Draft Combine, which will run from May 10 to 17 in Chicago.
The interview with ESPN marked the first time Peterson has addressed any in-depth cause of the cramping. He began experiencing them last summer after coach Bill Self’s annual conditioning boot camp. Peterson made it through camp, but the unbearable, 45-minute cramps he experienced the following week sent him to the hospital and left him wondering what had happened.
“It was a traumatic experience,” Peterson told reporters in March.
“The stops and starts definitely impacted him,” Self previously told The Athletic. “Conditioning, rhythm, team rhythm, a lot of things. I think it did impact him differently. If you can imagine going into every game believing that this is going to be the game in which your body feels right, and it just didn’t happen.”
Creatine is among the most widely used supplements in sports and is viewed as safe within standard dosing guidelines. It supplies energy to the muscles and is often taken as a supplement in the form of powder, capsules or energy bars to build muscle strength. The supplement is not banned in the NCAA, professional sports leagues or by the International Olympic Committee.
Peterson declared for the NBA Draft on April 24. He averaged 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists this season and was named an All-America honorable mention, made the All-Big 12 second team and was an All-Big 12 freshman team selection.
He played 30 or more minutes in 13 of the 24 games he played in, including seven of the Jayhawks’ final nine games. He scored 21 points in Kansas’ loss to St. John’s in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament after the Jayhawks beat Cal Baptist in the first round.