NBA hopeful Peterson: Creatine led to cramping
Key takeaways
- "I'd never taken it before [going to college]," Peterson said of the popular supplement which helps to increase muscle strength, power and growth.
- First his legs started cramping.
- "I made it to the training room and just started begging them to call 911," he said.
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
But in an extended interview with ESPN this week, Peterson said that a new round of bloodwork and other tests after the college basketball season led his doctors to conclude that his use of high doses of creatine created the condition.
"I'd never taken it before [going to college]," Peterson said of the popular supplement which helps to increase muscle strength, power and growth. "But after the season I took two weeks off and they did tests which showed my baseline level was already high. So, they said when I dosed [a process of increasing a dose over time to create maximum benefit at the beginning of taking a supplement], it must've made the levels unsafe."
Peterson, who is ranked as the No. 2 prospect available in next month's draft by ESPN's Jeremy Woo, said his issues started last year with a scary episode after Kansas coach Bill Self's annual weeklong boot camp in September that sent him to the hospital in an ambulance.