High school / college Petersen, a
St. Louis Park native, played
high school basketball at
St. Louis Park High School, being named Minnesota's Mr. Basketball in 1980, as well as being the first
McDonald's All-American from the state of Minnesota. Born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, he then went on to be a four-year letter winner at the
University of Minnesota, and a member of the 1982
Big Ten Championship team that featured future
NBA veterans
Trent Tucker and
Randy Breuer.
NBA Petersen was selected by the
Houston Rockets in the third round (51st overall) of the
1984 NBA draft, alongside
Hakeem Olajuwon. In the following four seasons, he played with the
Texas club, backing up both Olajuwon and
Ralph Sampson, who were known as the
Twin Towers. Petersen played in 20
post-season games (averaging six points and six
rebounds) as the team
reached the
NBA Finals, losing 2–4 to the
Boston Celtics. In the
1986–87 season, as Sampson began to struggle with injuries, Petersen achieved career-best averages of 11 points and seven rebounds, playing in all 82 games and starting in 56. In 1988, Peterson was traded with
Rodney McCray to the Sacramento Kings for
Otis Thorpe. A year later, he was traded to the
Golden State Warriors for former teammate Ralph Sampson. Petersen retired in 1992 at the age of 30, after four seasons with the Rockets, one season with the Kings, and three seasons with the Warriors, with totals of 491 games and 3,397 points. == Post-retirement ==