The Washington Wizards just got a long look at AJ Dybantsa in Summer League, and the picture is fascinating but incomplete. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft played two games in Vegas, scored 50 total points, and looked every bit like the explosive athlete who dominated at BYU. But there’s a glaring hole in his game that the Wizards will have to address before he can become the two-way force they’re banking on.
Dybantsa shot 13-of-33 from the field across those two contests. That’s 39.4 percent, which isn’t great. The real issue? He went 1-of-11 from three-point range. One made three in two games. The lone make was a transition pull-up early in Washington’s win over Sacramento. Everything else came inside the arc or at the free-throw line, where he shot 12-of-14. The NBA’s experimental one-shot free-throw rule in Summer League probably cost him a few more attempts, but the overall pattern is hard to miss.
This isn’t new. At BYU last season, Dybantsa won the NCAA scoring title by averaging 25.5 points on 51 percent shooting. But from deep, he hit just 33.1 percent on 4.2 attempts per game and an even worse 30.1 percent on catch-and-shoot threes. He’s a 77.4 percent free-throw shooter, which suggests he has the touch. The mechanics aren’t broken. The consistency just isn’t there yet.
The off-ball adjustment coming this fall
The Wizards didn’t draft Dybantsa to be a spot-up shooter. He ranked sixth in the nation in usage rate last season and handled the ball constantly in college. But in Washington, he’ll share the court with Trae Young, Anthony Davis, Kyshawn George and Alex Sarr. That’s a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of hands on the ball. Dybantsa won’t always have a live dribble to get to his spots. He’ll need to hit open threes to keep the floor from clanking shut.
Young is a career 35.2 percent shooter from deep. George is at 34.7 percent. Davis has hovered below 30 percent for most of his career. Sarr is at 31.6 percent. The league average last season was 36 percent. If Dybantsa can get to even 35 percent on decent volume, that starting five suddenly has three respectable threats from outside. That changes how defenses guard them.
The same goes for the other end. Dybantsa admitted before the draft that he was “lazy” defensively at BYU. His Summer League effort was noticeably better — five steals and three blocks in two games. He’s 6-foot-9 with the wingspan and quickness to be a real problem for opposing wings. If he buys in on defense, he becomes the perfect guy to help hide Young, who at 6-foot-2 and 164 pounds will always be a target. The Knicks just won a title with Jalen Brunson getting hunted on every possession, and the rest of the lineup covered for him. The Wizards could try the same blueprint.
Is Dybantsa a finished product? Absolutely not. But the raw material is ridiculous. He dominated Summer League games without making a single three in most of them. That’s the kind of baseline that gets front offices excited. The question is how quickly he closes that gap. If the jumper comes along, he has a chance to be a top-15 player in the league. If it doesn’t, he’s still probably a very good player — just not the franchise cornerstone the Wizards are hoping for.
Dybantsa hasn’t played a competitive game since March, and he still looked like the best player on the floor in Vegas. That alone should buy him some patience. But the Wizards’ roster is built around Young and Davis, both of whom are in their primes now. The timeline is shorter than it would be for a normal rebuild. Dybantsa needs to be ready faster than most rookies.
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