Washington Wizards Win NBA Draft Lottery and Have the Chance to Finally Build a Real Future
The Washington Wizards haven’t had the first overall pick since they took John Wall in 2010. That was 16 years ago. A lot has gone wrong in between.
The lottery landed with Washington on May 10, and the Wizards now hold the most coveted asset in the sport. With the 2026 draft class widely considered one of the deepest and most talented in years, the timing could not be better for a franchise that has been largely irrelevant for most of the past decade.
The obvious move is AJ Dybantsa, the BYU standout who measured at 6-foot-8.5 with a 42-inch vertical at the combine this week. He averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game as a freshman, and his combination of size, skill, and athleticism puts him in elite company among recent first overall picks.
But here’s the wrinkle: per CBS Sports, the pick isn’t locked in. Intelligence from inside the combine suggests the Dybantsa-to-Washington pairing has more uncertainty than the public consensus assumed. Whether that’s a negotiating posture from Dybantsa’s camp, genuine internal debate from the Wizards, or smoke from agents trying to manufacture trade leverage remains unclear.
What is clear is that the Wizards’ GM Will Dawkins needs to get this right. Missing on a top pick has destroyed franchises. Getting it right changes everything. Cleveland drafted LeBron at #1 and built a dynasty. San Antonio had the fortune of landing Tim Duncan, then Tony Parker, then Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs are currently in the Western Conference Finals because their drafting process produced Victor Wembanyama.
Washington has not had that luck, or that process, in a long time. This is the reset moment. The city is ready. The fanbase has been patient. The infrastructure is in place for the right player to walk in and immediately become the face of the franchise.
Whether that player is Dybantsa or someone else entirely, the Wizards now hold all the cards. For a team that has held very few cards for a very long time, that’s a significant change.
The Draft is June 23-24. Washington has five weeks to figure out what to do with the most important night their organization has had in sixteen years.
Don’t waste 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.
