Even with all of the gargantuan expectations and pressure that came with being a recruit of his caliber \u2014 and as part of a BYU program often viewed nationally as being somewhat obscure \u2014 Dybantsa aced every test<\/a>, shattering longstanding Cougar records and becoming the school\u2019s third-ever first team All-American alongside the likes of Danny Ainge and Jimmer Fredette. Maybe you\u2019ve heard of them.<\/p>\n Injuries and other complications to his teammates prevented him from playing in more than a single NCAA tournament contest, but make no mistake \u2014 the Dybantsa experience at BYU was electric, unforgettable and a legitimate success, especially considering how his NBA future could benefit the prestige of Young\u2019s operation.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unfair to pin the Cougars\u2019 collective shortcomings on Dybantsa or call his \u201creturn on investment\u201d underwhelming or disappointing. If Dybantsa approaches the professional ceiling many analysts believe him to possess, BYU will feel the ripple effects of his decision to play there for decades to come.<\/p>\n The Washington Wizards hold the first pick in Tuesday\u2019s draft, and the majority of experts believe they will use it to select Dybantsa. Should Washington zag and take someone else, Dybantsa could remain in Utah to play for the Jazz at No. 2.<\/p>\n If Dybantsa lands with the Wizards, he\u2019ll be viewed as the centerpiece to an elaborate rebuild for an organization starved for success. Not since 1979 \u2014 before the Jazz even arrived in Utah \u2014 has Washington won 50 games in a season or reached as far as the conference finals, and no player with his number retired by the team has played in D.C. since 1981. <\/p>\n In fact, the last time the Wizards had a first team All-NBA selection, the team was still called the Bullets. Only two players to wear \u201cWizards\u201d on their chest have even garnered an All-NBA second team nod, although Dybantsa would play with multi-time All-Stars in Anthony Davis and Trae Young with Washington.<\/p>\n Decades of Wizards futility will have led to Dybantsa as the solution. The pressure will be immense, but so too will be the opportunity for superstardom in the seemingly wide-open Eastern Conference and in a major media market that\u2019s obsessed with basketball. <\/p>\n Based on everything that\u2019s been observed of Dybantsa during his year in Provo, he\u2019ll embrace the chance to chase unprecedented heights in Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cDybantsa just has too much potential to become the kind of star the Wizards haven\u2019t had around here since Chris Webber\u2019s brief tenure in D.C.,\u201d wrote David Aldridge of The Athletic<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a dynamic young big man with the talent and charisma to make the city remember that it\u2019s a basketball town first, before everything else … it\u2019s hard to construct a scenario where Washington passes on his potential.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jazz, meanwhile, have historically enjoyed much more consistent success than the Bullets or Wizards, but have bottomed out in recent years<\/a> and now hope to be able to draft a player of Dybantsa\u2019s caliber. <\/p>\n The fanbase, which includes plenty of BYU supporters, would be overjoyed to keep a local high school and college product in the Beehive State, especially in trying to help Lauri Markkanen, Ace Bailey and company slay the Western Conference dragons from Oklahoma City and San Antonio in search of Utah\u2019s first NBA title.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s be frank. The average NBA fan best knows the Jazz for allowing Michael Jordan to win his fifth and sixth championships. Dybantsa could be the kind of player who gives the franchise a whole new identity, similar to what Giannis Antetokounmpo has done in Milwaukee or Nikola Jokic in Denver.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3MC7ZFQCMFCSZOWCQI6STXBV3M.JPG\")
BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) gestures to the crowd after the Cougars were eliminated by Texas 79-71 in the first-round of the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AJ Dybantsa has spent the entirety of his teenage years labeled as a can\u2019t-miss future NBA draft prospect.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,3125,99],"class_list":["post-720685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-news-feed-local","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}