BYU forward AJ Dybantsa has been the prospect most frequently cited as the frontrunner to go No. 1 overall, and he reacted to the Wizards landing the top pick at the draft lottery, per Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network (Twitter video link).
“Obviously I’ve been betting on myself for a little while to be a No. 1 pick,” Dybantsa said. “So initially just thinking like how I would fit into the team. I think I’m pretty versatile, adaptable, so I think I can play anywhere.”
Asked about what he knew about Washington, D.C., Dybantsa said he “knew a little bit.”
“The Jordan Brand Classic was there last year,” the 6’9″ forward said. “I got to tour their facility a little bit. I know a couple of their players. Tre Johnson, played against him at length (in high school/AAU). I’ve been watching AD (Anthony Davis) for a long, long time. Trae Young, even when he was at Oklahoma. So I know a couple of guys there.”
An anonymous NBA general manager told Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68 that he thinks the Wizards will end up taking Dybantsa (Twitter link).
“I don’t they can take the risk with (Darryn) Peterson even though I think his upside is even higher than Dybantsa,” the GM said. “I think Washington will go with Dybantsa because it’s a safer pick and they can’t afford to screw this up.”
Monumental basketball president Michael Winger, who was the Wizards’ lottery-drawing representative, released a statement after Washington won the lottery.
“Today is another encouraging day for Wizards fans and our entire organization,” said Winger. “To choose first among this inspiring group of athletes is a welcomed opportunity, and challenge, for our group. We look forward to adding another high performing young player to our ascending team.”
Here’s more on the 2026 NBA draft:
- Just like in the recent mocks from ESPN and Yahoo Sports, Dybantsa goes No. 1 overall to the Wizards in the updated 2026 mock drafts from Sam Vecenie of The Athletic and Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report. The mocks from Vecenie and Wasserman are actually identical for the first nine picks, with Peterson (Jazz), Cameron Boozer (Grizzlies), Caleb Wilson (Bulls), Keaton Wagler (Clippers), Darius Acuff (Nets), Kingston Flemings (Kings), Mikel Brown (Hawks) and Brayden Burries (Mavericks) selected two through nine. Vecenie is a little lower on New Zealand Breakers forward Karim Lopez than other evaluators. Vecenie has Lopez going 20th to the Spurs, while Wasserman has him at 10th (Bucks). Interestingly, all four mocks have the Thunder taking Michigan big man Yaxel Lendeborg at No. 12 and three of the four have the Heat selecting Labaron Philon at No. 13, while two have the Bulls drafting Jayden Quaintance at No. 15.
- The Jazz moved up in the draft lottery for the first time in franchise history, according to Gordon Monson of The Salt Lake Tribune, who thinks the future is looking bright in Utah after the team added Jaren Jackson Jr. at the deadline to a core featuring Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Lauri Markkanen and restricted free agent Walker Kessler. The Jazz will be selecting second overall, up from fourth in the pre-lottery odds. “It feels great, a big relief,” president of basketball operations Austin Ainge said, per Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. “It’s a really important tool for us to help build this winning team. So, couldn’t be more happy.” Ainge told the Deseret News it would be easier selecting second than fifth or seventh. “For sure, a lot easier,” Ainge said. “We just have to figure out who believe is No. 1 and No. 2… It’s much easier, but we still have to get it right.”
- Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner, who is testing the draft waters, tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link) he’ll be competing in the scrimmages at this week’s combine as he looks to boost his stock. “I’ll do whatever it takes to stay in the draft. I’m not running from anything. I love to play,” Tanner said. The sophomore guard said he’s focused on getting drafted “as high as I can,” addressed his size (he’s listed at 6’0″) being a perceived weakness, and listed his goal during the pre-draft process (All Twitter links). “My goal is to play in the NBA. Always has been since I was a kid,” Tanner told Givony. “I’m fully focused on making it. This is another opportunity to show what I can do. The way I make those around me better and raise the level of my teammates. I’ve always built my game on that.”
- One GM told Goodman he doesn’t think there’s much difference between the first and ninth picks in what’s viewed as a deep class (Twitter link). “I don’t see much disparity from No. 1 to the No. 8 or 9 pick,” the GM told the Field of 68. “I think the No. 3 or 4 pick may be the best because you won’t get crucified for not taking Dybantsa, Peterson, Boozer or Wilson down the line. The decision will be made for you.”
Who has the better future, Washington or Utah?
Trae Young AJ AD Sarr Johnson Coulibaly Carrington etc etc
Or
George Collier DP Ace Lauri JJJ Kessler Filipowski etc etc
Utah because they aren’t the Wizards.
Utah may not be perennial losers like the Wiz but they’ve never won anything either. At least the Bullets won one championship.
“Earl the Pearl” …. gave the world the spin move.
One greatest guards ever. He got Game – Spike Lee
Hey AL, I notice that the Knicks have the first pick in the 2nd round. Is there anything the Bulls have, Okoro, Jones, Jalen Smith that the Bulls could package with 38 to move up? Bulls also have a bunch of 2nds but not until 2030 and 2031. I’m thinking that if the Evans kid slides through the 1st round he would be ripe for the Bulls to take at 31. Wagler,Giddey, Dillingham, and Evans is a start at G. what do you think?
You like him. He has good size. He’s a solid pick rotation guy imo. He probably goes late first top 2nd. Knicks got that pick from Washington. Not trading it lol. Probably get a center. Evans projects late first rd. Okoro get you him in 2nd rd. Imo he’s going in 23 and up.
I doubt the Bulls have enough scrap to get back into the first for a late pick but they do have enough to move up from 38 to get a very useful player. Somebody will slip out of the first round and could help the Bulls. 38 seems a little low for that and it would probably be somebody to develop that has some warts on him. This draft is deep but it has limits too.
There will be a center there. Be smart to find a young one you can develop. Reed imo is a good one.
Veesaar, Backo, Zuby a 4 from St Johns my neighborhood lol. He is solid. Hoping Knicks look at him or Reed.
Jazz. They have the better roster and still have a solid stash of picks. The Wizards have a lot more to do roster wise.
Wizards have the talent to win 40 before losing 20 but they have so much inexperience and question marks with their 2 vet stars
Utah is a safer pick since Lauri and Jaren and Keyonte are going to show up
Personally I’d side with the Wizards.
AD and Sarr on paper make an awesome big man duo. Both elite defenders and both also capable of being 20 point per game scorers.
Trae Young is one of the best playmakers in the league plus has range and a solid floater. AJ has massive potential.
All they really lack is a clear and obvious SG and with their cap space I think they pick someone up there to hold it down.
Utah i dont think have the playmaking, big question mark if Walker returns, Ace and Lauri positional overlap, I just dont see it but I could be wrong
As a Wiz fan, I really want Trae out. I don’t want to see him play in a Wizards shirt ever. He’s not a winning player, just a huge salary and wants an extension. I was one of those saying that Atlanta would be a much better team without Trae, and that they would make a huge step forward with a player of lesser status like Cason Wallace or Davion Mitchell. And lo and behold, they ditched Trae and are a much better team now.
And I want Kyshawn to continue handling the ball. He had stretches this season when he was ridiculously good on the ball, making great decisions and creating advantages.
And honestly, I’d rather see AD traded and us get something for him. I will not belittle AD. He’s a great player when he’s out there and wants to compete. I’m somewhat intrigued to see if he can take this team somewhere. But he’s injury-prone, and who knows how he’ll react to being a Wizard. It’s safer to trade him as well.
The team had a huge amount of cap space going into this summer. They didn’t manage to take on a big bad salary in exchange for draft capital because there are very few bad contracts in this league. So they converted that cap space into Trae and AD. But it doesn’t mean that they have to become a part of the future here. Trading them is a better, safer option.
I’m a Hawks fan so I know what the Trae Young experience is like. I don’t think Trae will be in Washington for more than 2-3 years. That timeline is when I think the Wizards could possibly be a contender. I kinda think about it like DeAaron Fox on the Spurs. He helps them win for a couple years and mentor the young guys until they surpass him.
Anthony Davis on the other hand is likely to be traded before next season. Teams like Portland are interested. Davis has never been exciting about the Wizards. As I said before, I think it takes at least 2 or 3 years for them to be contenders realistically. Gotta let the young guys develop a little more.
I’d take Fox, with all his flaws, over Trae any day of the week. I don’t rate Trae in any way: I wouldn’t want him on a real contender, on an up-and-coming young team, on a decent .500 team, not on an old team trying to get one more deep playoff run or in any other scenario. Not on that contract anyway. Just get him out and let somebody else figure out how to make him a winning player.
Sarr, Dybantsa, Justin Champagnie, Kyshawn and one more backcourt player like Cason Wallace. I’d like to see that lineup next year.
Or if AD stays: Sarr, AD, Dybantsa, Champagnie and Kyshawn. But I suspect that Sarr would get outplayed in that team, and with AD at 5 and maybe Riley or Bilal inserted into the lineup, that group would be better.
Don’t know why Washington made the trades to acquire Young and Davis. So stupid.
Because they had around 100 million of projected cap space that had to be used somehow.
McCollum and Middleton were on big expiring contracts. Other than them, literally everybody else was on a cheap rookie deal or on a minimum. Apart from one player – Kispert.
They clearly shopped CJ, Khris and Kispert around and tried to get a bad salary and picks for them. But the problem is that in 2026, there are virtually no bad contracts in the NBA that the teams will give you 1st round picks for. I’m sure they’d be happy to trade Kispert and CJ to Philly for PG-13 and a couple of unprotected firsts, or for injured Lillard and some firsts from Milwaukee. But those offers just were not on the table.
So had they not traded and let McCollum and Middleton expire, they’d be well below the salary floor and would have to splash big.
Either on free agents, but a team like the Wiz would have to massively overpay to get somebody good. Or on offer sheets to RFAs. And I’ve been saying for the longest time – offer sheets are almost dead as a tool. Nobody uses them.
So they decided to flip those 3 guys and future cap space into Trae and AD. They judged that it would be the best way to extract value from the situation.
Those 2 trades were asset trades, not basketball moves to acquire AD and Trae and move forward with them. My guess is that at least one of them, possibly both, get traded before next year’s deadline or even this summer.
Unless the summer is quiet, then a miracle happens: AD is healthy and lazer-focused and back to being among the 10 best players in the league, Trae learns to shoot again and stops turning the ball over, they gel with the youngsters, and the team is winning games and in the playoff positions.
But I very much doubt that it will happen.
Maybe I don’t completely understand the cap. Not a Trae Young fan. Couldn’t the Wizards have stayed patient and just fill their open cap space with nothing but one year contracts?
Don’t like the aging superstar philosophy. Don’t want any part of George, Klay Thompson, even Kawhi, Damian Lillard, Harden. Almost never ends well.
#15 is too high for Quaintance. Plus he is still healing from injury. I wouldn’t take him in top 20.
Bulls at #15 you take best available. Cenac is a solid big prospect. I still sign Richard
Alfonso: i dont want quaintance. Good defender,but i worry with his healthy. Mara if available
ITS NICK RICHARDS WITH a S at the end. You been calling him the wrong name for the last 3 months like a senile senior citizen. Get the names right before you speak.
I hope jazz pick boozer,they have great memory with his father. Wizards pick aj,jazz boozer, grizz could pick between peterson and wilson.
Some less obvious winners and losers from the lottery:
Winner: Egor Demin. He got lucky last year when he found himself the highest-picked rookie on a poor team, so he got opportunities and effort put into him. Had he gone in the range he was projected, to Minnesota, Memphis, Miami or somewhere, he would’ve been nowhere. And now that Brooklyn didn’t get a great pick again, he will remain high in the pecking order. Anyway, I don’t think he’ll have a great career. He’ll maybe get his 2nd contract, maybe not. But very unlikely to get 3rd. When Brooklyn get some real talent, he’ll be quickly forgotten.
Loser: Eastern conference AGAIN. Year after year, Western teams move up in the lottery at the expense of Eastern teams, and it happened again. The 3 worst teams were all from the East, but West will pick at #2 and #3, and ofc Indiana lost the coin flip and their pick will go to LAC.
Everybody wants East to get stronger, but it’s hard when they get a good pick like Cade or Dybantsa once in 5 years, while Ants and Zions and Wembys and Flaggs and Harpers keep going to the West, and Western teams also get a disproportionate number of picks in the top-4 compared to their records.
On a rare occasion the East get lucky, they get Zacharie Risacher, lol.
Winner: everybody in the West because OKC didn’t get into the top-4, lol. And they didn’t get lucky last year with the Philly pick. It might seem like not a big deal because OKC are loaded. But it really matters. If they keep getting unlucky with all the picks they’ve acquired in trades, at some point, that lack of incoming high-level talent on a cheap rookie deal may play a role. It gives other Western teams some breathing room.