AJ Dybantsa Will Miss the Wizards’ Season Opener With an Ankle Injury: What It Means for Washington
The Washington Wizards will open their season on Wednesday night without the player their entire plan is pointed at. Head coach Brian Keefe confirmed at Tuesday’s practice that AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick in June’s draft, will not play against the Milwaukee Bucks because of a left ankle sprain.
Keefe said Dybantsa is the only Washington player ruled out for the opener, and that the 19-year-old stays day-to-day after that. For a franchise that has waited 16 years to pick first, this is the least alarming version of bad news.
It happened in a game that did not count
Dybantsa hurt the ankle on Friday, Oct. 16, in the second quarter of Washington’s preseason finale at New Orleans. He rose for a midrange jumper, landed awkwardly, and limped to the locker room without returning. He had 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting in 15 minutes before he left. The Wizards lost 107-106 and finished the preseason 2-2.
Keefe called the removal precautionary that night and said, “We’ll look at it more when we get more information.” By Sunday the word was day-to-day. Monday he did some shooting and took free throws at the end of practice. Tuesday he was out.
Josh Robbins of The Athletic, who has carried most of this reporting, wrote Tuesday: “AJ Dybantsa (ankle) will not play in Wednesday’s season opener, Brian Keefe said. Dybantsa is considered day-to-day after that, Keefe said.”
Asked on Sunday whether Dybantsa would play Wednesday, Keefe gave the answer coaches give when they do not know: “We’re just going one day at a time.”
What Washington is missing
Dybantsa led the NCAA in scoring last season at BYU at 25.5 points per game across 35 games, with 6.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists, shooting 51.0 percent from the field and 33.1 percent from three. He is 6-foot-9, 210 pounds, and he turned 19 in January. Washington took him first overall at Barclays Center on June 23, the first time the Wizards have held the top pick since John Wall in 2010.
His preseason was encouraging without being clean. Four games, 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and at least 11 points every time out. He also shot 43.9 percent from the floor and 2-of-11 from three. The outside shot is the part of his profile scouts have argued about since high school, and four exhibition games did nothing to settle it.
This is not a rebuilding roster anymore
That is why the absence is survivable. Washington won 17 games last season, the worst record in the league, then stopped behaving like a lottery team. Trae Young and Anthony Davis arrived at the 2026 trade deadline. Deandre Ayton and Khris Middleton came this offseason. Alex Sarr averaged 16.3 points and 7.4 rebounds a year ago. Kyshawn George started all four preseason games.
Bilal Coulibaly is the likeliest man to slide into the starting five, though that is a projection rather than a team announcement. Washington has not released a lineup. Jamir Watkins is out for the season with a torn ACL and Tristan Vukcevic is out with a left hip impingement.
Hold the panic
Nothing in the reporting points to anything serious. No imaging result has been released, no surgery has been mentioned, no sprain grade has been given, and the team has not attached a number of games to it. Dybantsa has not spoken publicly about the injury at all. The next chance to see him is Friday at home against Toronto.
A mild ankle sprain in the third week of October, on a team that now expects to win games, costs Washington a ceremony and not much else. The Wizards tip off against Milwaukee at 7 p.m. ET at Capital One Arena. Their best young player will be watching, which is annoying and nothing worse than that.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
