The 2026 NBA Draft is nine days away and the conversation at the top of the board has officially closed. AJ Dybantsa is going No. 1, and the Washington Wizards are going to be very glad they won the lottery.
The 18-year-old wing has spent the last six months turning every scout’s wishlist into a checklist. Strong combine measurements. A 7-foot wingspan. Plus athleticism. Smooth touch from the perimeter. Real handle for his size. The pre-draft process has gone about as well as it could have, and the Wizards have made it clear they are taking him with the first pick.
For those who have not been tracking the high school and college pipeline, Dybantsa is a 6-9 wing out of BYU who reclassified up to enter the 2026 class. He spent his freshman college season as a primary scorer at BYU, averaging just under 20 points per game in a conference that has produced multiple recent lottery picks. The numbers were good. The eye test was better.
Here is what NBA scouts love. Dybantsa has the kind of frame that projects to defend three positions at the next level. He is not a finished defender yet, but the tools are there. He has a smooth catch-and-shoot from the perimeter that goes in at a high rate against college defenses. He can attack a closeout. He can finish above the rim. He has the kind of feel for the game that lets him operate inside the offense without dominating the ball.
The comp scouts have used most often is a smaller version of Paul George with a touch of Kawhi Leonard’s spacing and shooting. That is a heavy comparison. It is the kind of label that has destroyed prospects in the past when they could not live up to it. Dybantsa, by all accounts, is not bothered by it. He has the temperament to handle expectations.
The Wizards’ interest is the only interest that matters for now. Washington has been a franchise in need of a generational anchor since the John Wall era ended. Dybantsa is the kind of player you build everything around for the next 15 years. He is going to be the highest-profile player in the city since the Wizards drafted Wall in 2010, and the fan base needs a face of the franchise to believe in.
The other names on the board are still impressive. Duke’s Cameron Boozer is in the conversation for the second pick. North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson should not slide further than third. The lottery class is one of the deeper groups in recent years, with at least eight prospects who would have gone in the top three in some past drafts.
Dybantsa is at the top because the floor is so high. Even if his shooting takes a year to settle in at the NBA line, even if the handle needs work, his defensive ceiling and his physical tools mean he is a franchise piece on day one.
The draft is at Barclays Center on June 23. The Wizards will make it official. AJ Dybantsa is going to be the face of NBA basketball for the next decade, and the rebuild in Washington just got the cornerstone it has needed for years.
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.
