AJ Dybantsa to Washington at No. 1? Why the Wizards’ Pick Is Still Not the Lock Everyone Assumes
AJ Dybantsa is the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. The Washington Wizards have the No. 1 selection after winning the lottery for just the second time in franchise history. The matchup looks clean on paper. Dig deeper and the story is not nearly as settled.
Seven out of 10 NBA executives polled anonymously by The Athletic said they expect Dybantsa to go No. 1 to Washington. That sounds like a consensus until you remember that 3 of 10 executives said no. There is a real conversation happening behind the scenes about whether the BYU star is the right fit for the Wizards’ rebuild.
Dybantsa is loaded with talent. He averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game in his lone college season. He is 6-foot-9 with guard skills and elite scoring instincts. Scouts love the upside. They project him as a top-end NBA wing with All-Star potential. The floor is high. The ceiling is higher.
So what is the hesitation?
Some of it is positional. Dybantsa’s best fit is on the wing, which Washington already has young pieces at. The Wizards drafted Bub Carrington last year. They have Bilal Coulibaly. Their needs at point guard and center are arguably bigger.
Some of it is the Dybantsa camp’s posture. Reports indicate Dybantsa’s representation has signaled to teams that he was not interested in playing the lottery-positioning game and had a preference to end up in Utah, which had the worst record. Now that Washington has the pick, there is uncertainty about how aggressively he wants to play in DC. That has not stopped previous No. 1 picks from showing up, but it does raise small questions in the front office.
The competition at the top is real. Darryn Peterson, the Kansas point guard, has surged in the post-combine mock drafts. Multiple mocks have him at No. 2 to Utah. Some teams have him in the conversation at No. 1 if Washington moves the pick. Cameron Boozer, the Duke star and ACC Player of the Year, projects as a top-five lock. He is averaging 22.5 points and 10.2 rebounds for the Blue Devils with a 39% three-point shot. The top of this draft is loaded.
The Wizards’ front office has options. They can take Dybantsa, lock in the consensus best talent on the board, and start building around him. They can trade down to a team like Utah or Charlotte and pick up another asset along the way. They can take Peterson at No. 1 and bet on the point guard. Each path has merit.
Then there is the franchise context. Washington went 17-65 last season. The roster is barren. The front office has been rebuilding the right way for two years, stockpiling picks and clearing salary. The next No. 1 has to be the cornerstone. Dybantsa fits that bill. Peterson does too.
The draft is June 23-24 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The next month will bring private workouts, dinners, and the kind of intel-gathering that determines this kind of decision. The Wizards have time to figure it out.
The conventional wisdom says AJ Dybantsa. The smart money agrees. But the door is open just a crack for something unexpected. The Wizards have a real choice. The 2026 draft might be more interesting than the prevailing narrative suggests.
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.
