Wizards Locked In at No. 1 in the 2026 NBA Draft With AJ Dybantsa as Their Likely Target
The Washington Wizards finally won the lottery they have been waiting for. The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery delivered the No. 1 overall pick to Washington, which won the draw with 14 percent odds. The Jazz, Grizzlies, Bulls, and Clippers rounded out the top five.
This was the moment the Wizards needed. After years of being stuck between contending and rebuilding, the team can finally do something definitive with the No. 1 pick. The early reporting suggests they are zeroed in on BYU forward AJ Dybantsa as the favorite to come off the board first.
Dybantsa was one of the most heavily recruited high school players in the country before deciding to play his lone college season at BYU. He has the size, the skill, and the athleticism to be a franchise cornerstone. Most importantly for Washington, he has the kind of two-way upside that lets you build a contender around him over the next decade.
The 2026 class is being talked about as historic for a reason. The top three of Dybantsa, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, and Duke forward Cameron Boozer is one of the deepest in recent memory. Any of the three could legitimately go first depending on which team is picking. The Wizards have the luxury of choice.
Peterson is the kind of big guard who solves problems on both ends. He has elite size for a lead ball handler, plays with composure, and showed at Kansas that he can be the best player on a major college team as a freshman. He will likely be the second pick of the draft, but some teams have him at the top of their boards.
Boozer is the legacy pick. His dad, Carlos Boozer, was an All-Star, and Cameron has lived up to the family name throughout his career. He went to Duke for the lone college season and absolutely dominated. He is the kind of polished, high-floor player that NBA executives love when they need an immediate contributor.
The Wizards roster does not need much help to start being respectable. The team has young pieces that have shown promise, including Bilal Coulibaly, Kyshawn George, and Alex Sarr. Adding a player like Dybantsa to that core gives Washington a real path back to relevance in the Eastern Conference.
The lottery system was kind to a few other teams too. Dallas landed the No. 9 pick, which gives them another premium opportunity to add talent around Cooper Flagg. The Mavericks won the tiebreaker last year and somehow landed Flagg with only a 1.8 percent chance entering the lottery. Their luck has been so good it is almost unfair.
For the Wizards, the next month is going to be the most important one in years. They need to do private workouts with Dybantsa, Peterson, and Boozer. They need to figure out which player fits their system best. They need to make sure that if they trade the pick, they get back something that justifies giving up a generational talent.
The smart money is that the Wizards keep the pick and take Dybantsa. He fits a need, he has the most upside of any player in the class, and the Wizards do not have any short-term moves to chase that would justify trading down. The future is in this player, and Washington needs to make sure they pick the right one.
The 2026 NBA Draft will be held later this month. The Wizards have a clear path. They need to walk it.
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.
