After losing nearly 200 games over the past three seasons, the Washington Wizards ushered in a new era by drafting BYU freshman forward AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Tuesday night.
The Wizards selected Dybantsa over Kansas freshman guard Darryn Peterson to help turn around the franchise. Entering the draft, Dybantsa and Peterson were widely considered to be the top two prospects.
“Being the No. 1 pick meant a lot to me,” said Dybantsa, who in a tribute to his father was called by his full name, Anicet Dybantsa Jr. “Obviously me being No. 1 throughout all my high school career, I definitely wanted to be a staple to be No. 1 in the NBA draft and be in the same conversation with LeBron James and Cooper Flagg, Allen Iverson and guys like that.”
For the franchise and the city of Washington, D.C., the selection of Dybantsa is a significant moment. The Wizards haven’t made the playoffs since 2021 and have not been past the second round since 1979, when the then-Bullets lost in the NBA Finals.
Dybantsa joins John Wall (2010) and Kwame Brown (2001) as Washington’s only No. 1 picks.
“I just know they’re super hungry,” Dybantsa said of D.C.’s love for basketball in a conference call with reporters shortly after his selection. “Obviously they have a great young core, and the potential is there, obviously. So them adding me, I think I can help them a little bit. Them re-signing Trae Young, them having A.D. [Anthony Davis] and having good vets along with our young core, I think [the Wizards] can do big things.”
After finishing 17-65 last season — their third straight season with 64 or more losses — the Wizards enter a new stage of the four-phase plan that Michael Winger, president of Monumental Basketball, and general manager Will Dawkins created to reshape the franchise.
The deconstruction phase is over, and Washington is working on the second and third phases, simultaneously laying the foundation and building it. The Wizards accelerated their rebuild by trading for Young and Davis last season to enhance a young core of Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Will Riley, Bub Carrington and Bilal Coulibaly.
Young intends to sign a four-year deal worth approximately $212 million to stay with the Wizards, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday. Davis is eligible to sign a four-year extension Aug. 6.
Adding the versatile Dybantsa is expected to help Washington become a playoff contender.
“We’re on the plan that we articulated,” Wizards owner Ted Leonsis told ESPN last month after winning the draft lottery. “We actually are a year ahead of the plan because I thought it would take four to five years and this really was the third offseason where we were developing young players, deconstructing, looking to add for the go forward.
“I feel that we can now live the plan.”
A major feature of the plan is drafting Dybantsa as a pillar. The 6-foot-9 BYU standout averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 51% from the field in his lone college season. He is the first player to lead Division I in scoring and go first in the draft since Glenn Robinson came out of Purdue in 1994.
“You get a guy like AJ Dybantsa, he is like a young Tracy McGrady to me,” Wall told ESPN last month when he represented the Wizards at the draft lottery. “Got the hesi-pull, super athletic, got all the tools. Do you take AJ and move him to the 3 and then you put Kyshawn [George] at the 2? Now you got a tall-ass lineup to help with Trae Young being a small guard, and Kyshawn’s 6-8, AJ’s 6-9 — that might be one of the tallest lineups in the league.”
Dybantsa said he wanted to do whatever was needed, learn from Young and Davis, and fit in alongside Washington’s several young wings. Washington’s management has already emphasized defense for the new franchise pick.
“I bring versatility,” Dybantsa said. “I can just fit in as like an off-ball guy that can score in different ways, score in transition, score off the catch, score off the dribble. But also they challenged me when they talked to me, ‘If we pick you, we want you to play defense 94 feet and pick up.’ So I definitely bring that too.”
Washington hasn’t won 50 games in a season since 1978-79, the season it lost in the Finals a year after winning the franchise’s lone NBA championship. Since the most recent playoff appearance, the Wizards have gone 120-290 (.293), the worst record in the NBA in that span. They have lost at least 16 straight games four separate times since 2023-24, as many as the rest of the league combined over that stretch, according to ESPN Research.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Leonsis said last month. “We still have to make sure that we have the chemistry of the team correctly and the hierarchy develops the right way and that we’re coachable and whatever system will work for the players that we have. And I know I’ve always wanted to build a team that’s as good as the fanbase. And if there’s one thing that I do feel comfortable now is that I think we have the tools to do that.”
Peterson didn’t have to wait long before he was selected No. 2 by the Utah Jazz. Cameron Boozer, the college player of the year in his one season at Duke, was taken at No. 3 by the Memphis Grizzlies. North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson, the other consensus top-four pick, went to the Chicago Bulls with the next selection.
The uncertainty was expected to begin at No. 5. The LA Clippers used the pick on Illinois guard Keaton Wagler. The host Brooklyn Nets then went with Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr.
Darius Acuff Jr. to the Sacramento Kings at No. 7 and Kingston Flemings to the Atlanta Hawks at No. 8 continued the run of scoring guards — and freshmen. The eight straight college freshmen taken to begin the draft matched the record set last year.
The Dallas Mavericks ended that run and went for a big — creating a reunion in the process — by taking Morez Johnson Jr. from national champion Michigan at No. 9. Dusty May left the Wolverines to coach the Mavericks on the eve of the draft.
Johnson was congratulated by Michigan teammates Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara, who were also in the green room and went to the Golden State Warriors at No. 11 and Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 12, respectively.
The Milwaukee Bucks, who traded two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, picked up two rookies. They took Arizona guard Brayden Burries with the No. 10 pick and acquired the rights to Tennessee forward Nate Ament, who was selected at No. 13 by the Heat but is part of the package Miami is sending to Milwaukee in the trade for Antetokounmpo that was agreed to Monday.
The top pick in the draft was going to celebrate for one night and then get back in the gym Wednesday.
“I know I have a lot of work to do,” Dybantsa said. “Obviously this night is just a celebration of all the hard work I’ve done in the past, and so now I’m going to celebrate. But I have to get on a plane, and I’ll probably work out tomorrow, if I can, if they let me.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
