NBA player development coach Phil Beckner has spent plenty of time around superstars. A former college assistant coach to Damian Lillard at Weber State, Beckner has become one of the league’s most popular private trainers, working with Lillard and a number of the NBA’s best. So when he walked into the Legends Events Center in Bryan, Texas, for an AAU tournament in May 2024 and first laid eyes on a 17-year-old Darryn Peterson, Beckner could instantly tell there was something special there.
“I’m at [one court] and Darryn walked in and he’s about to play at [a different court] ... he walked in and I’m telling you, his presence and his aura, it almost gave me goose bumps,’ ” Beckner says. “I’ve been in the back tunnels of NBA arenas. I’ve seen Dame Lillard walk by, I’ve had Giannis [Antetokounmpo] walk by. Those dudes, there’s something different to them … I just remember like, ‘Holy cow, this dude is different.’ ”
