Congratulations to the Utah Jazz. With the second pick of Tuesday’s NBA draft, they got their consolation prize in the AJ Dybantsa sweepstakes — Kansas guard Darryn Peterson.
To a great extent, the Jazz staked their future on whether this rare opportunity in the draft pans out. It took a long time for the team to get here — 46 years since the last (and only) time they picked this high in the draft and four years since they began tanking. That’s 48 months of burning down the house and rebuilding it — 221 losses in four seasons, or an average of 55.25 losses per season.
Sure was fun.
Now, back to winning, if they can remember how.
Time will tell if it was all worth it, and it won’t take long.
We hate to rain on the parade (even if there is a drought), but the Jazz are on the clock again. They have about four years to win a championship — the average length of time players drafted in the first round remain with their original team and, ironically, the same length of time as the Jazz’s Great Tank.
It’s also the length of a rookie contract, not coincidentally. After four years, the price goes up and the draftee either gets a huge raise and eats up a big chunk of the team’s salary cap or he is signed by another team and the Jazz have to start over again. That’s the circle of life in the NBA and professional sports. You know the drill.
Anyway, the Jazz used that second pick to select the 6-foot-5 Peterson, who some observers (defined as anyone with a microphone or a keyboard and an online platform) call possibly the best guard in 20 years, the closest thing to Kobe Bryant and possibly, eventually the best player from this draft ...
OK, everybody take a deep breath and settle down.
Peterson is a great prospect. It was widely debated for a time whether he or Dybantsa would be the No. 1 pick, but Dybantsa won out (if you can call getting drafted by the Wizards a win. They are to the NBA what the Jets are to the NFL, sporting the league’s worst record over the last 10 years and, for that matter, the last 30 and 40 years).
Peterson is so good he might overcome the so-called curse of the No. 2 pick. You do know about the curse, right? Colin Salao, a reporter who focuses on the business side of sports, did a deep dive into this phenomenon a few years ago. Looking at the previous 20 years — from 2000 to 2020 — the second overall pick had the lowest total win shares of the top five draft picks. Salao reported that the first pick had 350.1 more total win shares than the second pick, and the third pick had 276.1 more win shares than the second pick. Weird.
Salao also quantified the curse in a simpler way: The second pick has significantly fewer all-stars and all-NBA players compared to both the first and third picks, and is barely ahead of the fourth and fifth picks.
There have been costly mistakes made with the No. 2 pick, some of them doozies. In 1984, the Portland Trail Blazers drafted injury-prone Sam Bowie with the second pick; the No. 3 pick was a guy named Michael Jordan. It was like Decca Records turning their noses up at The Beatles.
In 2003, the Detroit Pistons used the No. 2 pick to draft Darko Milicic — passing on Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh.
In 2009, the Memphis Grizzlies drafted Hasheem Thabeet at No. 2, passing on Stephen Curry and James Harden.
In 2012, the Charlotte Bobcats used the No. 2 pick on Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who averaged 8 points per game during his eight-year career.
In 2014, the Milwaukee Bucks made Jabari Parker the No. 2 pick. He played for six teams in eight years and was out of the league by the age of 27. He averaged single-digit scoring the last four years of his career. He’s been overseas since 2023.
In 2018, the Sacramento Kings used the second pick on Marvin Bagley III — the next three picks were Luka Doncic, Jaren Jackson and Trae Young.
The No. 2 picks since Salao’s report (2021-25) have not exactly lit up the court, either, although they have been solid so far — Dylan Harper (11.8 points, 3.1 assists last season), Alex Sarr (16.3 points, 6.9 rebounds), Brandon Miller (20.2 points), Chet Holmgren (17.5 points), Jalen Green (19.9 points). Holmgren is the only one to earn a spot in the main All-Star Game.
The No. 2 pick has produced superstars worthy of such a high pick, but you have to go way back to find them — Kevin Durant (2007), Jason Kidd (1994), Isaiah Thomas (1981), Jerry West (1960), Bill Russell (1956).
The Jazz are banking their future on the hope that Peterson will add his name to that list.
