Jazz rookie Darryn Peterson scores career-high 28 in loss at Houston

Utah Jazz rookie Darryn Peterson scored a career-high 28 points on Friday night in a 125-118 loss at Houston, per the NBA and the AP game recap. It was his fifth straight game with at least 20 points.

The No. 2 pick in the 2026 draft played 34 minutes and went 9-of-20 from the field, 4-of-11 from three and 6-of-7 at the line, per the ESPN box score. He added seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. His previous high was 26, set at Minnesota on Nov. 9.

The NBA said Peterson is the first Jazz rookie since Donovan Mitchell in 2017-18 to string together at least five consecutive 20-point games. Mitchell did it three times that season.

The streak started last weekend. Peterson scored 21 at Dallas on Nov. 7, then 26 at Minnesota, 25 against Miami and 22 against Orlando before Friday. That is 122 points over five games, or 24.4 a night. In his first eight games he never got past 18. He is now averaging 17.2 points through 13 games, by his ESPN game log.

The team around him is still losing. Utah fell to 1-12 with its 11th loss in a row, and its only win came in the second game of the season against New Orleans. Alperen Sengun scored 43 points with 12 rebounds for Houston in NBA Cup group play, and Kevin Durant closed it with two free throws in the final seconds. Keyonte George scored 27 for Utah, 10 of them in the third quarter, as the Jazz cut a 10-point halftime deficit to 92-89 after three. Ace Bailey added 21.

What changed is volume and comfort from deep. Peterson took 20 shots and 11 threes on Friday, starting next to George and Bailey, per Underdog NBA's lineup report.

Utah hosts San Antonio on Sunday. The Spurs beat Golden State by 38 on Friday, so the matchup gets harder. A sixth straight 20-point game there would put him in the Rookie of the Year conversation for real, whatever the Jazz record says.