Many mock drafts seem to suggest BYU forward AJ Dybantsa has become the frontrunner to be selected No. 1 overall in the 2026 NBA draft. The 19-year-old says the market size of the team that picks him isn’t important, according to Jason Jones of The Athletic.
Dybantsa noted that he’s from Brockton, Massachusetts, a city with a population of 106,000, and played his college ball in Provo, Utah, which has approximately 115,000 residents.
“When it came down to BYU, I just wanted to create my own paths, and I thought that BYU was just the right choice from a coaching standpoint, from just helping me be a better person, better player,” Dybantsa said. “It wasn’t really about the market size. Everything’s that’s coming, when it comes to marketing, comes if I do me on the court.”
Here are a few more notes on the 2026 draft:
- International prospect Malique Lewis didn’t receive medical clearance to participate in the G League combine due to a preexisting heart condition, agent Omar Samham told Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter links). Lewis, a 6’8″ forward from Trinidad and Tobago, has spent the last two seasons with South East Melbourne Phoenix in Australasia’s National Basketball League. According to Givony, the 21-year-old’s condition has been known for years, having previously gained clearance to play in Spain, the G League (with the Mexico City Capitanes) and the NBL. Lewis, who participated in the 2024 and 2025 G League combines, is optimistic he’ll be cleared for future events, Givony adds.
- USC forward Jacob Cofie, Purdue forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Israeli guard Noam Yaacov were among the standouts of Game 1 of the G League combine, according to Givony and his DraftExpress colleague Jon Chepkevich (Twitter links).
- Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports has updated his 2026 mock draft, which sees Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, Caleb Wilson, Darryn Peterson and Darius Acuff go in the top five, in that order. O’Connor seems a little higher than consensus on certain prospects (Dailyn Swain at No. 12, Allen Graves at No. 16) while being lower on others (Hannes Steinbach at No. 22, Jayden Quaintance at No. 29).