The Washington Wizards have been through a lot of bad basketball. Three straight seasons with 50 combined wins will do that to a fanbase. But Tuesday night in Brooklyn, they finally got their guy.
AJ Dybantsa went No. 1 overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, and the 19-year-old BYU star knows exactly what he is walking into. He’s not the top dog. Not yet, anyway. Not with Trae Young and Anthony Davis on the roster.
So when I asked him how two ball-dominant players like him and Young are supposed to share the floor, Dybantsa didn’t dodge the question. He had an answer ready.
“I think we can definitely find a balance. I can play off-ball,” Dybantsa said. “Obviously not a lot of people have seen that, but I played off-ball at Prolific Prep, with Tyran Stokes and those guys. With Team USA, I’m not the number one option. I have to pave my way. I’m walking in with some vets, I have to earn my spot.”
That’s maturity you don’t always get from a 19-year-old who just led Division I in scoring at 25.5 points per game. The 6-foot-9, 217-pound forward posted a usage rate in the 99th percentile last season, but he also averaged 3.7 assists and ranked in the 95th percentile in assist rate. He’s not a black hole. He just happens to be really, really good at putting the ball in the basket.
Young, meanwhile, is a different kind of usage beast. His career 31.79% usage rate ranks sixth all-time among players since the 1967-68 season, per Basketball Reference. Only Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic sit ahead of him. And the Wizards just locked him up with a four-year, $212 million deal on Monday. He’s not taking a backseat.
That’s fine with Dybantsa. He’s been here before. In high school, he shared the floor with Stokes, the top-ranked recruit in this year’s class. On Team USA, he played alongside Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, Mikel Brown Jr. and Koa Peat. He knows how to let other guys eat.
The Wizards will likely start Dybantsa alongside Young, Davis, Kyshawn George and Alex Sarr next season. That’s a lot of mouths to feed. Davis averaged 20.4 points for Dallas last year. George put up 14.8 a night. Sarr chipped in 16.3. Nobody’s asking Dybantsa to carry the offense every night.
That actually works in his favor. With less offensive responsibility, Dybantsa can focus on the parts of his game that need work. Specifically, defense.
He admitted to me on Monday that he was “lazy” defensively at BYU. The stats back it up: below-average steal and block percentages for his position, and too many moments where he lost track of his man off the ball. The Wizards noticed. They addressed it during their pre-draft meeting.
“They challenged me when they talked to me,” Dybantsa said. “They said, ‘If we pick you, we want you to play defense 94 feet and pick up.’ So I’ll definitely bring that too.”
That’s a smart ask. Young is 6-foot-2 and 164 pounds. He’s one of the league’s worst defenders, mostly because of his size. Washington can’t afford another liability on that end. If Dybantsa can become a reliable off-ball defender and spot-up shooter, he’ll be exactly what this team needs.
And the Wizards need to win now. After five straight seasons without a playoff appearance, the front office has the roster to at least make the Play-In Tournament. The team went 50-196 over the last three seasons combined, which covers the full tenure of general manager Will Dawkins and president Michael Winger. They tore it down. They built it back up. Now it’s time to see what it looks like.
Dybantsa will get his first taste of NBA action in Summer League on July 9 against the Utah Jazz. The matchup pits him against Darryn Peterson, who went No. 2 overall and said Tuesday he’ll be “extra motivated” whenever he plays his peer moving forward. Welcome to the league, kid.
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