The losses just keep coming for the Utah Jazz, which is obviously bad, but the one upside has been how amazing Darryn Peterson looks. All of the Jazz's injuries have allowed Peterson to spread his wings as a rookie, which has led to highly promising his results.
Dating back to his breakout against Dallas, Peterson has been going off. In the last five games, he's averaged 24.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, four assists, 1.4 steals, and one block per game while shooting 47.3% from the field and 38.6% from three. In other words, he's putting up future franchise player numbers.
The start of Peterson's NBA career has been a little rocky, but now he's finding his footing. It's not leading Utah to any wins, but it is conclusive proof that they picked the right guy in Peterson. Even though the Jazz didn't intend for it to be this way, losing as much as they have is what happens when a team is depending on its young talent (even when they never intended as such).
But it leaves a pressing question: when Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. come back, will Peterson be able to keep this up?
Peterson's challenge will be adaptability
When those two come back, Peterson's not going to have the ball as much as he has had it since the two of them went down. Part of his early struggles was trying to fit in with the group fully healthy, and he's showing how good he can be when Utah has counted on him more.
At the same time, the Jazz want to see wins on top of Peterson's progress, and they're not getting that. Their expectation is seeing Peterson fit next to Markkanen and JJJ. That's not always a given when mizing veteran stars with promising young talent.
For what it's worth, this challenge is not going to be on Peterson alone. It's also going to be on Markkanen and JJJ (as well as Keyonte George and Ace Bailey) to make this vision work. Teams have tried having their cake and eating it by putting win-now players next to promising talent, and it doesn't always work.
Utah has confirmation that Peterson is definitely going to be the face of the future. In a season in which things could not have started any worse, they at least now the future is secure. However, they still need to focus on the present, and if Peterson proves he can fit in with the vision, then they should feel much better.
But anyone who thinks that will be easy for him to do might be surprised. Not because of anything that has to do with Peterson's talent as a player, but because asking a young player to sacrifice i a big ask.
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