{"id":627373,"date":"2026-04-24T07:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T07:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627373\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T07:11:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T07:11:24","slug":"aj-dybantsa-announces-he-is-entering-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627373\/","title":{"rendered":"AJ Dybantsa announces he is entering 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

BYU standout AJ Dybantsa averaged 25.5 ppg last season.<\/p>\n

AJ Dybantsa has made it official: He\u2019s entering the NBA draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The BYU forward \u2014 widely expected to be a top candidate to be the No. 1 pick \u2014 made the announcement Thursday. Dybantsa led the nation by averaging 25.5 points per game in his lone college season, along with 6.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the first player to have a season with all those averages and be named a consensus All-American since Larry Bird did it for Indiana State in 1978-79.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the work starts again, all over again,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of NBA players tell me that it kind of restarts once you get there. I\u2019m just looking forward to that next step, being a rookie and learning from all the vets.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Dybantsa made the announcement at the Davis School in his hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts \u2014 the home of boxing greats Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the city of champions,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cI just want to be considered like one of those champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dybantsa attended the Davis School until fifth grade and said he still values the lessons instilled in him there, including the importance of education. That\u2019s part of the reason why, even though he\u2019s going to the NBA, Dybantsa said he will simultaneously remain in school and continue working toward a mass communications degree at BYU.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom wanted me to stay in college to graduate,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cBut I told my mother that I\u2019m going to declare for the draft and also finish and get my degree online. I\u2019ll probably finish within the next four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA Draft Lottery 2026<\/a>\u00a0will be held on Sunday, May 10 and air live on ABC at 3 p.m. ET. The first round of NBA Draft 2026 will take place on Tuesday, June 23, and the second round will take place on Wednesday, June 24.<\/p>\n

The Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets all have a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick. When asked what team he would like to play for in the NBA, Dybantsa gave an immediate answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever team drafts me, bro,\u201d Dybantsa said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not lacking for confidence and hopes to give another speech in Massachusetts \u2014 the home of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame \u2014 when his playing career is over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next speech \u2014 the next big, big speech \u2014 I should have is the Hall of Fame speech,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cSo, we should be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BYU standout AJ Dybantsa averaged 25.5 ppg last season. AJ Dybantsa has made it official: He\u2019s entering the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[304099,64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-627373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-aj-dybantsa-nba-draft-2026","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}