Wizards Take BYU's Dybantsa No. 1 in NBA Draft, Betting on a 19-Year-Old to End a Long Rebuild

BROOKLYN, The Washington Wizards hadn't held a No. 1 overall pick since they called John Wall's name in 2010. Sixteen years later, at Barclays Center on Tuesday night, they called another one. This time it was AJ Dybantsa, the 19-year-old forward out of BYU, and the crowd knew it was coming long before Adam Silver opened his mouth.

The selection wasn't a surprise. It was practically a formality. But that doesn't make it a small thing for a franchise that has lost at least 64 games in each of the last three seasons. According to ESPN, Washington went 120-290 over that stretch, the worst record in the NBA. You don't fix that overnight with one draft pick. You don't fix it at all without the right ones.

Dybantsa might be the right one. He averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in his lone college season with the Cougars, per Al Jazeera. At 6-foot-9 and 212 pounds, he draws Tracy McGrady and Paul George comparisons from scouts, according to CBS Sports, which had him atop its prospect rankings coming into the night. He shot 63 percent at the rim last season, per Synergy data cited by CBS Sports. He led the United States to the 2025 FIBA Under-19 World Cup title and was named tournament MVP. The tape backs up the hype.

What Washington is buying is a player who only met with two teams during the pre-draft process, according to ESPN: the Wizards and the Utah Jazz, who held the No. 2 pick. Utah ended up taking Kansas guard Darryn Peterson there. Memphis grabbed Duke's Cameron Boozer at No. 3. Chicago went North Carolina's Caleb Wilson at No. 4. It was, as CBS Sports put it, one of the best top-fours in recent memory. A loaded class at the top. Freshman after freshman.

For Washington, the math is straightforward if you squint. Trae Young, who was traded to the Wizards last season, agreed on the eve of the draft to a four-year extension worth roughly $212 million, per ESPN's Shams Charania. Anthony Davis is already there. Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, a young core that's been losing and developing simultaneously. Dybantsa is meant to be the missing piece that makes all those development-phase losses feel like they led somewhere.

"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."

Owners always say that. Whether it's true or not depends entirely on whether Dybantsa turns into what scouts say he can be. The last Wizards No. 1 pick, Wall, made five All-Star teams and then had his career derailed by injuries. The one before that was Kwame Brown, which nobody in Washington wants to think about. History at that slot is not clean.

Dybantsa, for his part, sounded like a kid who understands the weight without being flattened by it. "I bring versatility," he said at Barclays, according to ESPN. "I can fit in as an off-ball guy that can score in different ways... But also they challenged me. If we pick you, we want you to play defense 94 feet and pick up."

That's what modern front offices want to hear. The Wizards have already told him what they expect on the defensive end. He says he can deliver it. First test comes at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which tips off July 9.

All this happened the same week New York was still sweeping ticker tape off Broadway after the Knicks' championship parade. The NBA Finals averaged more than 20 million viewers on ABC/ESPN, per NBA.com, capping what the league called the most-watched postseason since 1998. Good timing for the league to put a loaded draft class on television and remind everyone the product isn't going anywhere.

Washington has waited a long time to feel like that. They're betting a teenager from Brockton, Massachusetts gets them there. The city's been patient. It doesn't have much choice.

Sources cited:
- ESPN (https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49158973/wizards-opt-byu-aj-dybantsa-top-pick-nba-draft)
- CBS Sports (https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/wizards-aj-dybantsa-darryn-peterson-no-1-pick-2026-nba-draft/)
- CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-wizards-select-aj-dybantsa-no-1-overall-2026-nba-draft/)
- Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/6/24/nba-draft-2026-aj-dybantsa-no-1-pick-washington-wizards)
- NBA.com (https://www.nba.com/news/live-2026-nba-draft)
- WUSA9 (https://www.wusa9.com/article/sports/nba/wizards/2026-nba-draft-washington-wizards-picks/65-70d2ff4a-d153-4275-b9c9-47183184a486)