Darryl Leon "L. J." Peak Jr. (born February 2, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Koshigaya Alphas of the B.League. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the Georgetown Hoyas. In high school, he won two South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) 4A state championships with Gaffney High School (2010 and 2012) as well as a 2013 Chicago Public High School League (CPL) championship with Whitney Young High School and was named South Carolina Mr. Basketball in 2014. At Georgetown, he was a 2015 Big East Conference All-Rookie team selection for the 2014–15 team and won a gold medal with

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA, and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States ...

at the

2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship The 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Greek: Παγκόσμιο Πρωτάθλημα FIBA Under-19 2015) was the 12th edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested by t ...

High school career

20130126 LJ Peak dunking at Simeon-Whitney Young game

In 2010, Peak was a key member of the Gaffney team that went on to the SCHSL 4A state championship. As a sophomore in 2012, Peak scored 22 points, including 2

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

s with 7 seconds left in regulation, before fouling out to lead Gaffney in the 58–55

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

victory over Lexington in the SCHSL 4A state championship. In the 2013 CPL playoffs February 15 finals contest Peak tallied 13 points in a 60–56 overtime Public League Championship game victory against Morgan Park High School by a

Whitney Young Whitney Moore Young Jr. (July 31, 1921 – March 11, 1971) was an American civil rights leader. Trained as a social worker, he spent most of his career working to end employment discrimination in the United States and turning the National Urba ...

team that also included

Jahlil Okafor Jahlil Obika Okafor (; born December 15, 1995) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for the Noblesville Boom of the NBA G League. He played his freshman season of college basketball for the 2014–15 Duke Blue Devils men's baske ...

. He committed to Georgetown on July 2, 2013, choosing the Hoyas over offers from

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. At the time of his commitment, he was the 54th and 82nd ranked player in the Class of 2014, according to ESPN.com and Rivals.com, respectively. Peak closed out his high school career with a 49-point performance against

Irmo High School Irmo High School is a public high school in unincorporated area, unincorporated Lexington County, South Carolina, Lexington County, South Carolina, United States, - The school is not directly shown on the map, but comparing its location with th ...

in the third round of the SCHSL playoffs. Peak was named 2014 South Carolina Mr. Basketball.

College career

On November 15, 2014, against St. Francis, Peak started and established the Georgetown record for most points (23) in a freshman debut when he hit all 9 of his field goals and posted the most points by a Georgetown freshman in a game during the John Thompson III era. The 9-for-9 shooting performance was the best performance of the season by a Big East Conference player. Peak developed a reputation for his defensive versatility as a freshman. Following the 2014–15 Big East season, he was selected to the Big East Conference All-Rookie Team. On January 19, 2016, in an 81–72 upset of the #5-ranked

Xavier Musketeers The Xavier Musketeers are the 19 teams representing Xavier University in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The Mus ...

, Peak posted a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double off the bench. On March 6, Peak scored a career-high 31 points against #3-ranked (and eventual national champion) Villanova. Peak entered his junior season as a 2016–17 preseason All-Big East honorable mention selection. He was a leader in many of Georgetown's wins that year. In a November 21 victory over #13/12

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

at the

Maui Invitational Tournament The Maui Invitational is an annual early-season college basketball tournament that takes place Thanksgiving week, normally in Lahaina, Hawaii, at the Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui. It is hosted by Chaminade University of Honolulu, ...

, Peak scored 17 points including the free throws to seal the win with 2.7 seconds left. On January 25 against the #16/16

Creighton Bluejays The Creighton Bluejays, or Jays, are the athletic teams that represent Creighton University, a Jesuit/Catholic University in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. They compete in NCAA Division I in the Big East Conference. Sports sponsored Base ...

, Peak contributed a game-high 20 points, giving him 1,000 in his Hoya career, in an upset. Three days later he posted a game-high 22 points in another upset over #11/11

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

. Peak followed those performances up by scoring a game-high 26 points, including the final 5 points of the game in a January 31 76–73 win over DePaul. Following the season,

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's Jeff Goodman reported on March 21, 2017, that Peak would declare himself eligible for the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

. Peak had almost declared for the 2016 NBA draft and had a family to support at the time of his decision. The Georgetown basketball program was in a state of turmoil, with a top recruit leaving the program and

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

John Thompson III was fired two days later. On April 30, 2017, Jeff Goodman of ESPN reported that he was named as an alternate to the NBA Draft Combine.

Professional career

Maine Red Claws (2017–2018)

On June 23, 2017, Peak was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

to a 2017 NBA Summer League contract. In late August 2017,

's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Peak had signed a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics. The Celtics officially announced their 20-man training camp roster on September 26, which included Peak. Peak was waived by the Celtics in the final week of training camp (on October 12). Later that month, Peak was designated as an affiliate player by the Maine Red Claws.

Wellington Saints (2018)

On April 20, 2018, Peak signed with the

Wellington Saints The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand professional men's basketball team based in Wellington. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Bank Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as ...

for the 2018 New Zealand NBL season.

Pistoia Basket (2018–2019)

On July 28, 2018, Peak signed a one-year deal with the Italian club

Pistoia Basket 2000 A.S. Pistoia Basket 2000, known for sponsorship reasons as Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia, is an Italian professional basketball team based in Pistoia, Tuscany. History The city of Pistoia was formerly represented in the first division Lega Basket Ser ...

for the

2018–19 LBA season The 2018–19 LBA season, also known as Serie A PosteMobile for sponsorship reasons, was the 97th season of the Lega Basket Serie A, Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the men's top tier professional basketball division of the Italian basketball league sys ...

2019–20 season

On June 7, 2019, he signed with

Pallacanestro Varese Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian basketball league system, Italian first ...

but transferred in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

to U-BT Cluj-Napoca at the end of January.

Japanese B.League (2020-)

On June 30, 2020, Peak signed with Utsunomiya Brex of the Japanese B.League. On June 16, 2021, Peak signed with Kumamoto Volters. On June 3, 2022, Peak signed with Ibaraki Robots. On November 25, 2022, Peak signed with Nagasaki Velca. On December 26, 2022, Peak signed with Yokohama Excellence. On June 30, 2023, Peak signed with Koshigaya Alphas.

International career

On June 18, 2015, Peak was announced as a member of the 12-man 2015 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Championship Team for the

. The team won the gold medal against Croatia.

Personal life

Born in

Gaffney, South Carolina Gaffney is a city in and the county seat, seat of Cherokee County, South Carolina, United States, in the upstate South Carolina, Upstate region of South Carolina. Gaffney is known as the "Peach Capital of South Carolina". The population was 12,53 ...

, he is the son of Darryl Peaks Sr. and Lynette Peaks and has one brother, Jermaine Adams.

Notes

External links

USA Basketball bioESPN profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peak, LJ 1996 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in New Zealand American men's basketball players Basketball players from Illinois Basketball players from South Carolina Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball players Koshigaya Alphas players Lega Basket Serie A players Maine Red Claws players Nagasaki Velca players Pallacanestro Varese players Sportspeople from Gaffney, South Carolina Pistoia Basket 2000 players Shooting guards U-BT Cluj-Napoca players Wellington Saints players Whitney M. Young Magnet High School alumni Yokohama Excellence players 21st-century American sportsmen