Wizards draft AJ Dybantsa with No. 1 overall pick

Dybantsa, a 6-foot-9 forward out of BYU, was the leading scorer in college basketball in 2025-26, averaging 25.5 points per game to go along with 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals in 35 appearances (34.8 minutes per game). He shot 51.0% from the field, 33.1% from three-point range,and 77.4% on free throws in his freshman season.

An excellent athlete with tremendous size for a wing, Dybantsa is incredibly difficult to stop once he gets moving toward the basket. He’s strong, draws lots of fouls — he led the country in both free throws attempts and free throws made — and thrives in the mid-range, as ESPN’s Jeremy Woo writes.

While Dybantsa overwhelmed his opponents at the college level and should have no trouble creating his own shot in the NBA, he’s quite ball-dominant at this point in his development in part because his outside shot lags behind other parts of his game, Woo notes. The 19-year-old also didn’t play particularly well defensively for the Cougars, though he has the physical attributes to become a plus on that end.

Dybantsa has been considered a candidate to go first overall since he was a freshman in high school and showed tangible progress as a decision-maker and play-maker at BYU. He’s viewed as an elite prospect, but will need to keep improving on both ends to reach his franchise-player potential, per Woo.

The Wizards were linked to Dybantsa as soon as the draft lottery took place last month. He’ll immediately become the face of the organization after Washington traded for a pair of veteran multi-time All-Stars in Trae Young and Anthony Davis in 2025-26.

Part of the reason Washington was connected to Dybantsa is he’s a logical fit as a jumbo-sized wing alongside a small point guard in Young and a center/forward in Davis. The 19-year-old, who was a consensus first-team All-American, will join a young core that includes Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson and Will Riley.

The Wizards have been in rebuilding mode the past few seasons, but their transactions — including agreeing to give Young essentially a four-year, maximum-salary contract — and lottery luck mean they’ll be looking to make the playoffs, or at least be in the play-in mix, sooner rather than later.