The Washington Wizards made it official Tuesday night. With the first pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, they took AJ Dybantsa out of BYU. No surprise there, really. The betting odds had been pointing this direction since the lottery balls bounced Washington’s way back in May.
But here’s the thing about this pick. It felt different. Not just because Dybantsa is a 6-foot-9 wing who led the nation in scoring as a freshman. But because the Wizards have been wandering in the dark for so long. They haven’t posted a winning record since the 2017-18 season. Over the last three years, they haven’t won more than 18 games. That’s brutal. That’s the kind of stretch that gets front offices fired and fans checking out.
So yeah, this matters. Dybantsa averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 51 percent from the floor. Those are absurd numbers for a college freshman. And he did it in the Big 12, which is not exactly a pillow-soft conference.
The big debate was real
It wasn’t an easy choice. The Wizards front office spent weeks going back and forth between Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson. Both are viewed as franchise-level talents. Peterson offers more traditional point guard playmaking and long-term upside as a lead guard. Dybantsa is a pure bucket-getter who can create his own shot from anywhere on the floor. In the end, Washington went with the wing scorer. And by the time the draft arrived, most league insiders expected that outcome.
Cameron Boozer was also in the conversation. But the sense around the league was that Washington needed a perimeter player who could take pressure off their existing roster. They’ve got Anthony Davis inside. They’ve got Alex Sarr developing. They’ve got Trae Young running the show. What they needed was someone who could get 25 on any given night without needing the ball in his hands constantly.
Dybantsa fits that description perfectly.
One game that sealed it
If you want a snapshot of what Dybantsa can do, look at the Big 12 Tournament. In BYU’s opener, he went for 40 points on 15-of-21 shooting. Added nine rebounds and six assists. That performance broke Kevin Durant’s record for most points by a freshman in a Big 12 Tournament game. Durant had 37 back in 2007. Dybantsa also passed Trae Young and Michael Beasley for the most 35-point games in a single season in Big 12 history.
Not bad for a guy who just finished his first year of college ball.
And the Wizards have him locked into a situation that actually makes sense. Young declined his $49 million player option for next season, but then signed a four-year, $212 million extension to stay in Washington. So the backcourt is set. Davis is still producing at an All-NBA level. Sarr is growing. The pieces are starting to fit together in a way they haven’t in years.
Dybantsa becomes the highest-drafted player in BYU history, passing Shawn Bradley and Mel Hutchins, who both went No. 2 overall. That’s a nice piece of trivia. But the real story is whether this pick finally turns Washington into something more than a lottery team. The Wizards haven’t had a true No. 1 option they drafted themselves since… maybe ever. Dybantsa changes that.
Now he just has to prove he’s worth all the hype. And based on what he did at BYU, he’s got a pretty good head start.
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