AJ Dybantsa Is Already the Best Player in Summer League. The Wizards Have a Star.
Two NBA Summer League games. 25 points per game. And an entire fanbase suddenly remembers what hope feels like.
AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft, is torching Las Vegas. In his debut against Utah, he dropped 27 points, tying the mark for most points by a No. 1 pick in a Summer League debut. Nineteen of those came in the first half. He added seven rebounds, two steals and a block for good measure.
Two nights later against Sacramento, he did it again. 23 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two blocks, zero fouls in a 104-85 blowout win. His summer averages sit at 25 points and 7 boards on 40 percent shooting.
The 40 percent shooting is worth noting. That is the number that reveals a rookie still figuring out the pace of NBA basketball. But everything else is exactly what Washington needed to see. Dybantsa is playing with pace, confidence and a scoring instinct that belongs at the top of the draft.
Wizards fans have been waiting for a moment like this for over a decade. Since the John Wall era ended, Washington has been a punchline. Rebuild after rebuild, lottery pick after lottery pick, and never quite finding the guy who could carry a franchise. Dybantsa immediately looks like he can be that guy.
The comparisons pouring in are lofty. Some are calling him a young Paul Pierce. Others are seeing shades of Kawhi Leonard’s smoothness. The truth is he is his own kind of player. Six-foot-nine with a 7-foot-2 wingspan. Can guard three positions. Handles like a wing. Shoots off the bounce. Not many prospects have that combination of tools and polish coming out of college.
Washington took him ahead of Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer in what was considered one of the deepest draft classes in recent memory. The Wizards front office believed Dybantsa had the highest ceiling. Two summer league games is not a definitive answer, but it is a very promising early sign.
The bigger question is what happens around him. The Wizards still have Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington from previous drafts. Kyle Kuzma is the veteran presence, though his role may be limited. Corey Kispert and Marcus Smart round out the wing rotation. There is a young core here. Whether it is a good young core remains to be seen.
Coach Brian Keefe deserves credit for how he has developed the roster. Washington was not a good team last season, but they were competitive and they played hard. Adding Dybantsa to that environment gives them a real building block. He is not a raw prospect who needs three years to figure it out. He is a Day 1 contributor with All-Star upside.
Do not expect the Wizards to be a playoff team next season. They are still climbing out of the East basement. But they are climbing. And with Dybantsa, they have someone to build around who could be a franchise pillar for the next 15 years.
The rest of the league is watching. Every scouting department is filing new reports. Every general manager is checking if their team has enough draft capital to move up next year to pair a similar talent with what they have. Dybantsa’s Summer League performance is already reshaping how teams project their futures.
Two games. That is all it took. AJ Dybantsa is the real deal, and the Wizards may have just found the star they have been searching for since the Wall era ended.
Washington’s rebuild has a face now.
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.
