AJ Dybantsa Understands the Assignment

So he gets it. More than anything, that’s what we can take from AJ Dybantsa’s summer league debut, a game that, for Wizards fans, was like a giant bowl of water in the middle of a desert. Or a fountain, really. Or a whole damn river.

But first, what was your favorite highlight late Thursday night? Was it when Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick in June, put poor Justin Harmon on a poster with a thundering dunk? Was it when, late in the third quarter, Dybantsa beat one defender going to his left, hopped into the paint, then flicked in a layup while floating into the chest of a second defender? Was it when he hit a leaning, mid-range jumper while falling to the floor, the ball rattling in while the ref whistled for a shooting foul?Was it that you watched him for 27 minutes and only saw one turnover?

In the Wizards’ 92-88 win over the Jazz in Las Vegas, Dybantsa, a 6-foot-9 forward, finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. He shot seven of eight at the line. He was not perfect, missing all five of his three-point attempts, and attacking some double teams when he could have used the attention to set teammates up. He also told ESPN that he sat the last minute because of some leg soreness, though assured he’ll be OK.

But the performance was everything the Wizards — and Wizards fans — could have hoped for and then some. Not because Dybantsa put constant pressure on the rim, though that was certainly promising. And not because he outshined Darryn Peterson, the No. 2 pick last month, though that was certainly an added bonus. No, it was because Dybantsa was entirely in character — which is to say that, in his first chance to prove he was the right choice, he seemed hell-bent, from the opening tip, on not leaving the faintest trace of doubt.

Making tough shots is one thing, in an exhibition or otherwise. Yet understanding the role and expectations of franchise player is what the Wizards will ultimately need from the 19-year-old.

Vegas was already an important place in Dybantsa’s basketball journey. In 2024, it’s where his family first met Brett Woodson, who was then co-director of Utah Prep. Woodson got to talking with Dybantsa’s dad, Ace, about whether Dybantsa might spend his final year of high school in Hurricane, Utah. Eventually they agreed on a lucrative name, image and likeness (NIL) deal that included an ownership stake in the school for Ace, according to multiple people familiar with the terms.

Many of Utah Prep’s leaders had connections to BYU, whether as grads or donors or both. Dybantsa, as we know now, would play his lone college season at BYU, earning more than $5 million in NIL money, according to a handful of people familiar with those terms. Before that, though, he starred for a Utah Prep team that barstormed around the country, including to Sin City. But about four hours before one game in Vegas, AJ unzipped his bag and found a problem: Nike had sent him the wrong-sized shoes.

Panicked, AJ called his dad’s hotel room. Ace was bunking with Tai Cecil, another team parent who would eventually become the president of Utah Prep. Cecil had driven them to Vegas, so the Dybanstas asked if he would now take them to the Nike store. Cecil did, of course, which ended with Dybantsa swarmed by people while trying to find the right pair.

“He was only 17, still a high schooler, but he was also a famous Nike athlete standing in the middle of a Nike store,” Cecil remembered. “And so he couldn’t just buy a pair of shoes to play in that afternoon without everyone trying to get photos, a handshake, any small piece of him.”

Familiarity is usually a prerequisite to comfort. For Dybantsa, this microscope isn’t new, just bigger and more expensive. And now Vegas is also where he introduced himself to the professional basketball world, no matter if it was only a scrimmage. Really, what’s a summer league game if not an excuse to overreact?

Even the most illogical fan brain knows that dunking over defenders in July is not the same as dunking over NBA defenders in February. It is, to bite off the tail end of a Mark Twain quote, the “difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” But stirring real excitement is better than any alternative, as is somehow exceeding absurd amounts of hype. Then it all popped just a bit more because of what 27 minutes made clear: The teenager knows the job.