AJ Dybantsa Is Locked In as the 2026 NBA Draft No. 1 Pick. Should the Wizards Take Him?
The pre-draft process is supposed to create chaos. Workouts produce surprises, combine measurements reshuffle the board, and someone always slides for reasons nobody can fully explain.
None of that is happening with AJ Dybantsa.
The 6-foot-9 BYU forward is the heavy betting favorite to go No. 1 overall in the June 23 NBA Draft, and the odds have only firmed up in the last month. Dybantsa opened at minus-200 to go first overall when he declared. He is now sitting at minus-450. The market has decided.
The Washington Wizards, who won the lottery for the second time in franchise history with a 17-65 record, are the team holding the pick. Every report out of their front office suggests they have already made the call. Dybantsa is the guy.
Why He Is the Consensus Pick
Dybantsa averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists at BYU. He shot 51% from the floor. He led the nation in scoring as a freshman in a Power Conference. He earned first-team All-American honors. He carried BYU to a 23-12 record and an NCAA Tournament bid despite playing without a Top 50 high school recruit anywhere else on the roster.
The scouting report is the kind that NBA front offices dream about. Dybantsa has positional size that lets him guard 1 through 4. He has the footwork to create his own shot from the perimeter or in the post. He has high-level shooting touch and his three-point percentage projects to translate to the NBA after he shot 38% from college range. He is a competitor who relishes the big moment.
The comp range starts at Paul George and goes up. That is a very narrow group of comparable players for a first-round talent.
The Rest of the Top Four
Behind Dybantsa, the consensus board is Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson in some order. The Utah Jazz pick second, the Memphis Grizzlies third, and the Chicago Bulls fourth.
Peterson, a 6-foot-5 combo guard out of Kansas, is the closest thing to a sure thing behind Dybantsa. He averaged 19 points and 6 assists for the Jayhawks as a freshman. He has the playmaking the Jazz desperately need to pair with Lauri Markkanen.
Boozer, the son of former NBA forward Carlos Boozer, is the most polarizing player in the top five. He had a solid freshman season at Duke and earned ACC Rookie of the Year honors. But some scouts are concerned about his ability to defend at the next level, and the latest mock drafts have him slipping out of the top three for the first time in months.
Wilson, the 6-foot-10 forward from North Carolina, is the upside swing of the lottery. He is younger and more raw than the others but his physical tools are off the charts. The Grizzlies and Bulls would both be happy to take him.
What Dybantsa Means for Washington
The Wizards have spent the last three seasons collecting draft assets and developing young pieces. Bub Carrington is going into his third season. Bilal Coulibaly looked like a starter by the end of last year. Kyshawn George flashed in February and March. The roster is finally starting to make sense as a long-term project.
Dybantsa changes the timeline. He is a player Washington can build around immediately. Pair him with Coulibaly on the wing and the Wizards have the most athletic perimeter defense in the East. Run the offense through Carrington as a secondary playmaker and Dybantsa as the primary scorer and the Wizards are 30-win team next season with a real chance to climb into play-in contention by 2027.
The pick is also a referendum on general manager Will Dawkins. He has built the Washington rebuild from scratch, and now he has the franchise cornerstone to validate the entire project. If Dybantsa hits, Dawkins is the most respected GM in the league within two years.
The 2026 draft is loaded at the top. The Wizards have the No. 1 pick. The math is simple. AJ Dybantsa is the future of basketball in Washington.
The only question left is what color No. 1 jersey he is holding up on June 23.
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.
