AJ Dybantsa Cements Status As 2026 NBA Draft No. 1 Pick: What He Brings To Wizards
AJ Dybantsa is the 2026 NBA Draft. Everybody else is just listed on the board.
The Washington Wizards won the lottery. Dybantsa, the BYU freshman who led Division I in scoring at 25.5 points per game, is the lock to go first. Vegas has him at -450 to be the top pick. Every legitimate mock draft has him going to Washington. The Wizards are not even pretending to evaluate other guys at the top.
Why? Because Dybantsa is a superstar prospect in the most traditional sense of the word. He is 6-9 with shot-creation skills that would make him a 20-point scorer in the NBA right now. He averaged 25.5 in college as a freshman and put up 894 total points, which is the third-most ever by a Division I rookie. He won Consensus First Team All-American honors and Big 12 Freshman of the Year. He played the entire season as the best player on the best non-tournament team.
The comparisons are everywhere. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Jeremy Woo wrote that the high-end comp is a “supercharged Jaylen Brown” and the floor is a “supercharged RJ Barrett.” NBA.com is throwing Tracy McGrady references on his scoring profile and Scottie Pippen comparisons on his versatility.
Even the floor comp is a 20-point NBA starter. The ceiling comp is a perennial All-Star and Olympic team guy. Either way, the Wizards just landed a foundation piece.
Washington has been the worst team in the league for years. The franchise is finally getting rewarded for it. Dybantsa pairs nicely with Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr. Add another draft pick from a future year and this Wizards core could be a top-six East team within three seasons.
The rest of the lottery is its own conversation. Darryn Peterson at Kansas is the projected number two to the Jazz. Cameron Boozer at Duke is the number three to the Grizzlies. Caleb Wilson at North Carolina rounds out the top tier.
This is being called the best draft class in a decade. There is real ceiling at the top, real depth in the middle, and enough role-player upside in the second round to make every front office happy. The 2026 class is going to reshape multiple franchises.
Dybantsa is the headline. The 18-year-old has the build, the bag, and the scoring instincts that translate immediately. He shoots threes off the dribble. He gets to his right hand effectively. His pull-up jumper is the kind that NBA defenders are going to have to live with. Plus he is long enough to defend three positions and switch onto guards when needed.
The Wizards are reportedly going to take him without bringing him in for a workout. That is how locked in this is. Washington’s front office has done their homework and they know what they have.
For Dybantsa, the next 21 days are about agent meetings, brand deals, and finalizing the pre-draft routine. He does not have to convince anyone of anything. He just has to walk across the stage and put on a Wizards hat.
The 2026 NBA Draft is June 23. Mark it down. The Wizards are going to come out of it with a real franchise player for the first time since John Wall.
Dybantsa is the one.
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.
