BYU superstar AJ Dybantsa is No. 1.

The Washington Wizards selected the 6-foot-9 forward with the first overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft on Tuesday night.

Dybantsa made history, becoming the first BYU basketball player to be selected No. 1. Dybantsa is now the third Cougar — following Mel Hutchins (1951) and Shawn Bradley (1993) — to be selected in the top two of the NBA draft.

“It’s been countless hours, countless days, countless months,” Dybantsa said of the work he’d put in to get to draft night. “All the sacrifices I made, that my family had to make and that my parents had to make, it’ll just be a stepping stone.”

Before Tuesday, there was debate whether Dybantsa or Kansas Jayhawks’ star Darryn Peterson would be the Wizards’ pick.

Dybantsa said he did not know the Wizards were going to pick him until his name was called on Tuesday night.

“I found out when y’all found out. 8:11 p.m., just now,” he said. “I mean, they called my name, when they said Anicet Dybantsa was the overall No. 1 pick. Got up there, prayed and just hugged all my family. Super surreal.”

Dybantsa signed with the Cougars out of Utah Prep, becoming the highest-rated recruit in the program’s history. He chose BYU over programs like Kansas, North Carolina and Alabama.

In his one collegiate season, he averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, leading BYU to an NCAA Tournament berth.

“They welcomed me with open arms. I give the utmost thanks to BYU, KY [Kevin Young] and the whole staff for just believing me,” Dybantsa said. “I know I wanted to commit when I went on that visit. I saw Egor [Demin] today, too. It’s just BYU family all around, and I just give them thanks.”

He’ll now join a lineup led by veteran All-Star center Anthony Davis and guard Trae Young in Washington, D.C., with hopes to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award and lead the Wizards back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 season.

“Just coming into the league and not having any vets is probably tough,” Dybantsa said. “But having vets, like All-Star guys like Trae Young, Anthony Davis, guys who have won chips like Anthony Davis, I think I can kind of pick their brains and just get some easy knowledge.”

How Dybantsa fits with the Wizards

Before winning the lottery and the No. 1 overall pick, the Wizards made some big win-now moves at the trade deadline. First, they traded for Young, then moved for Davis. Truth be told, Washington didn’t give up much for either player, as neither was a terribly desirable target given poor health and on-court chemistry issues.

With Dybantsa now, though, the Wizards have three clear star players. You figure the majority of the attack will go through Young and Davis, with Dybantsa as a secondary possession user and a kickout target for Young. The 19-year-old will need to learn how to play off the ball a bit more often than he did in the second half of his BYU season, but that could be good for his development. Of course, second lineups and absences for the Wizards’ two stars should mean at least some minutes for Dybantsa to create on his own.

From there, the Wizards have a lot of young players that will need to develop winning habits in order for them to push for anything beyond a Play-In Tournament spot — but perhaps that means they have enough shots at development that one or two may work out. Tre Johnson, Will Riley, Bub Carrington, Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, Cam Whitmore and Kyshawn George are all under 23 years old. Based on their 2025-26 seasons, it’s Sarr and George who look most promising at this point.

The Wizards are not known as one of the NBA’s better player development franchises, with a real dearth of young players who have made the most of their NBA careers coming out of Washington. The Wizards hope that coach Brian Keefe, along with executives Will Dawkins and Michael Winger, turn around that history sooner rather than later.