The 2026 NBA Draft is coming up in less than a month. And with the Washington Wizards holding the No. 1 pick, they have a chance to get a true franchise player for the rest of the 2020s into the 2030s. The consensus No. 1 pick is former Brigham Young star AJ Dybantsa. And here, let’s be DMV Dybantsa-stans for a second and say why he is the perfect franchise player for Washington.
Dybantsa fits the prototype of a future superstar scoring wing
The league has increasingly revolved around big perimeter creators. Teams spend years tanking and rebuilding, hoping to find
a player like this. Dybantsa projects as a 6’8″-6’9″ wing who can create offense, defend multiple positions, and eventually carry an offense late in games. Washington has not had perimeter talent of that caliber in …. a long time.
Yes, John Wall was an elite floor general. Yes, Gilbert Arenas was elite offensively in the 2000s. But the Wizards need someone who has the potential to be a future Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic or even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Dybantsa is the prospect closest to reaching that level of potential.
If Dybantsa reaches even 80 percent of his ceiling, the Wizards suddenly have the most important asset in the NBA right now: a true franchise wing.
The Wizards desperately need star power and marketability
As you know, the NBA brought back John Tesh to play “Roundball Rock,” not to show Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen dominate with the Chicago Bulls. Now, it’s to show LeBron James, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama dominate with their teams.
How many times did you hear “Roundball Rock” every two minutes on WRC-TV, our local NBC station show Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly? None.
It’s not just that the Wizards were bad in 2025-26. The Wizards have been systemically bad or irrelevant. Remember 2013-14 when the Wizards made the playoffs? Sure the playoff games were on national TV, but during the regular season? They had NO games on ESPN or TNT. So it shouldn’t be surprising that the Wizards are left out of a lot of national TV games when they have:
- 0 conference finals appearances since 1979
- 0 50-win seasons since 1979
- Poor attendance and weak national TV relevance compared to similar large NBA markets
A true superstar changes revenue, ticket sales, jersey sales, sponsorships, and national relevance. If Dybantsa becomes a 25-points-per-game caliber scorer, that changes the entire trajectory of the franchise for the next decade. And we’ll get to see John Tesh play his song at Capital One Arena too.
The Wizards are probably drafting Dybantsa anyway
Well, let’s look at the betting market with our partners at FanDuel. Remember to play responsibly.
Anyway, when we are looking at who could win the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder, the San Antonio Spurs and the Eastern Conference Champion New York Knicks, the Thunder, Spurs and Knicks all have a wing player in Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama and Jalen Brunson, respectively, who Dybantsa could be like in the future.
Hopefully, Dybantsa isn’t a late bloomer like Brunson. And yeah, the Thunder are the favorites per FanDuel’s odds. We should be seeing odds on the Wizards’ selection at No. 1 as we get closer to the NBA Draft itself. And if those odds were out there, they’d still say that if the draft was right now, Dybantsa is playing for Washington this fall given what most NBA draft gurus are thinking.
Now, this is just one piece singing praises to Dybantsa. There are three players whom the Wizards COULD pick at No. 1. So, let me ask you all. Do you think Dybantsa fits the perfect franchise player profile for Washington? Let us know in the comments below.
