Эй Жей Дибанца NBA-гийн драфтын тэргүүн сонголтоор тодорлоо

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NBA Draft.

NEW YORK — What a whirlwind 12 months for AJ Dybantsa.

Last summer, he led the United States to the gold medal in the 2025 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, winning the tournament’s MVP award. As a freshman at BYU, he led Division I in scoring and in total free-throw attempts. At May’s NBA Draft Combine, he distinguished himself with his outstanding athletic testing.

And on Tuesday night, he fulfilled one of his dreams: An NBA team drafted him with the No. 1 pick.

The Washington Wizards used the first pick of the 2026 NBA Draft to select Dybantsa, with team officials hoping he will develop into a foundational player. The Wizards strongly considered drafting Kansas combo guard Darryn Peterson, but chose Dybantsa instead.

A 6-foot-9 wing, Dybantsa possesses an intriguing blend of size, athleticism and skill. The Wizards’ front office projects him as a force on both ends of the court.

“I can bring a little bit of everything,” Dybantsa said Monday. “I can bring an offensive impact, scoring, playmaking, but also a defensive impact, just guarding the other team’s best player or just roaming around and being a pest defender.”

By drafting Dybantsa, the franchise is doubling down on its emphasis on positional size, adding him to a roster that includes 6-foot-8 wing Bilal Coulibaly, 6-foot-9 wing Kyshawn George, 6-foot-10 wing Will Riley, 6-foot-10 forward/center Anthony Davis and 7-foot-1 center Alex Sarr.

Dybantsa is the most heralded player within the Wizards’ young nucleus. The top player in his recruiting class for much of his final year of high school, he averaged 25.5 points and shot 51 percent from the field during his one-and-done year at BYU, where he played for coach Kevin Young, a former assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns.

At 19 years old, Dybantsa does have some holes in his game. He will need to improve as a ballhandler, and he shot only 33 percent from 3-point range in college. Like many young players, he must ramp up focus, consistency and intensity on defense.

But he can enhance those skills over time, and Wizards officials are confident that their player-development program can help Dybantsa grow and set the tone for the rest of his career.

He is a three-level scorer who finishes at the rim well and doesn’t shy away from contact, as his 296 free-throw attempts at BYU demonstrate. Wizards officials expect him to become more physical as he fills out, and to develop as a decision-maker, connector and team player.

Dybantsa has said his favorite player is Kevin Durant, and the assistant coach Durant worked with most early in his career was Brian Keefe, who is now the Wizards’ head coach and has received praise from team executives for his player-development skills and mindset.

“It would be good for me, definitely just getting that experience early,” Dybantsa said Monday when he was asked about the possibility of learning from the same coach who helped tutor Durant.

“Obviously, he coached a Hall of Fame-type player. But that’s kind of like the same reason I went to BYU. (Kevin Young) coached Kevin Durant; he coached Devin Booker. So just getting that knowledge early on in my career will be big for me.”

Sam Vecenie’s draft guide summary

Dybantsa has better physical tools entering the NBA than any wing I’ve seen in a while. His ability to play with elite bend mixed with explosiveness allows him to consistently get into the teeth of the defense as a straight-line driver. In transition, he’s an absolute menace. His nose for the foul line is second to none in this draft class with his polished footwork and gathers. That’s what allowed him to be as monstrously productive as he was this season, averaging more than 25 points while shooting over 50 percent from the field. He is a historically notable scoring prospect as a big-time wing, and it helps that he showed major improvement as a shooter and passer this season after seemingly stagnating a bit in the year before he played at BYU.

However, the aspects of Dybantsa’s game beyond his scoring acumen are unpolished. He’s nowhere near as deficient a ballhandler as Ace Bailey as a big wing because of his ability to play with bend and drive, but he needs to tighten up with the ball to consistently make better passing reads. The strides were there this season, but to be a primary decision-maker in the NBA, the standard is almost impossibly high. Additionally, Dybantsa needs to show improvement on defense, where his engagement and overall anticipation are not quite good enough.

But if we’re drafting for ceiling-level outcomes at the top of the draft, Dybantsa’s mix of rare athletic traits and proven scoring ability gives him the highest apex of all the prospects in the class. There’s simply not a better blend of size, power, length, athleticism and skill in this class, and his overall feel for the game on offense is not poor. Dybantsa’s weaknesses are also more fixable than the weaknesses of other prospects at this size. You can improve his ability to handle the ball, and he has shown enough vision and problem-solving skills on the ball to believe he’s growing there. He’s not a completely negative defender with his size and length, and he won’t be attacked on that end even if he still needs to work through his anticipation issues.

There are outcomes here where Dybantsa averages 30 points and six assists in his prime while providing slightly above-average defense. That player would be in the All-NBA picture and could even find himself in MVP discussions. Dybantsa’s floor in his prime is probably in the ballpark of what Jaylen Brown’s was before his 29-point-per-game breakout this season: A 22-point-per-game scorer who is switchable on defense but messy off the ball with some questionable moments as a ballhandler and passer. That’s still a player who provides borderline All-Star-level talent. Dybantsa is the best combination of upside and floor in the class.

John Hollinger’s analysis

Dybantsa is obviously a phenomenal scorer, averaging a jaw-dropping 39.4 points per 100 possessions in Big 12 games, mostly on self-created shots. He shot 56.8 percent on 2s, even though a lot of them were contested pull-ups, and while he only shot 33.1 percent from 3, I trust his shot a lot more than that.

Watching him shoot before games, you see an easy, clean release, and he gets great elevation on it; the NBA level should likely afford him some easier catch-and-shoots to improve that percentage.

In particular, Dybantsa is hell on wheels in transition, pushing his own rebounds upcourt and then taking giant strides into his finishes. He’s never passing once he gets a head of steam, but if you were an automatic bucket like this, you wouldn’t either.

If you’re looking for warts, he has a high handle that can get away from him a little bit, and you worry about NBA defenders picking his dribble when it’s out that high and away from him. Additionally, Dybantsa had trouble reading defenders and picking out open teammates and relied a bit too much on tough 2s, although this got better as the season went on.

I went back and looked historically at the production of other similarly highly drafted big forwards, and Dybantsa’s freshman year is a similar story: A lot of these guys don’t actually have overwhelming stats as far as impressing draft models and have somewhat high turnover rates and underwhelming 2-point shooting stats, but they score at a high rate and have at least halfway-decent assist rates. If you look at Dybantsa’s offensive stats from his one-and-done year, they fit in with the likes of Jayson Tatum, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, Paolo Banchero, Jaylen Brown and Cade Cunningham. I’d say that’s good company.

Where I worry more about Dybantsa is actually at the other end. His rates of rebounds, steals and blocks are unusually low for a prospect of his type; of the players I listed above, Dybantsa would be a distant last in rebounds and blocks and near the bottom in steals.

David Aldridge’s draft confidential

Eastern Conference scout No. 1: AJ could be really, really good. He could be KG with a jump shot. That’s the way I thought of him three years ago when I first laid eyes on him. He has a tenacity about him when he wants to. His senior year of high school, he played like he had a lot of money (coming), and he was cool, and that turned me off. But in the summertime when they were in Turkey (for the 2024 FIBA Under-17 World Cup), (Cameron) Boozer got the MVP award, because it was already preordained. AJ deserved it. Just like last year, (Louisville guard) Mikel Brown Jr. didn’t get it, when he deserved it. When AJ is playing, and he did this year, when he plays hungry, he can be really, really good. AJ’s dad is a constant presence, but from what I know, he’s not a basketball presence. He’s helped him, but he’s not all hands-on — probably would pay a trainer.

Western Conference executive No. 2: He’s a responsible kid. He’s not ducking from not wanting to be the top player. He carries himself as the best player. He’s running to, “Hey, man — I’m the best player in the league.”

This story will be updated.