Wizards No. 1 NBA Draft pick AJ Dybantsa Jr. has high hopes for rookie season in DC
Brigham Young University star Anicet "AJ" Dybantsa Jr. says hearing his name called on Tuesday as the first overall pick of the 2026 NBA Draft was a "surreal" experience.
Dybantsa joined "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, hours after his selection by the Washington Wizards at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and said the moment was "ridiculous" and sparked "a lot of mixed emotions."
"You see it all these years on TV, and then when [NBA Commissioner Adam Silver] actually calls your name, it's just, like, super surreal, and you get to share it with your family," he said.
Dybantsa's parents, Anicet "Ace" Dybantsa Sr. and Chelsea Hudson Dybantsa, joined their son on Tuesday for the big moment.
"They've been with me since the start, literally," the younger Dybantsa said, adding, "It's good for me just having their support, having my sisters there with me, just having someone I can lean on all the time. It's been good for me."
Dybantsa told ABC News that his dad has also been like a manager for him, handling "a lot of the business stuff outside, so I can just focus on books and ball."
After playing just one collegiate season, the Cougars forward, who stands at 6 feet, 9 inches tall, became the first freshman to lead Division I men's basketball in scoring since fellow Wizards star Trae Young.
Young, who was acquired by the team earlier this year in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, took to X on Tuesday to give the rookie an early welcome, adding, "The City is Ready!"
Dybantsa said he's ready to slot right in with the rest of the current Wizards roster.
"I can pretty much, in my opinion, just be super adaptable to any team I go to," he said.
He added that his experiences playing on U.S. national teams throughout high school with NBA players had made it easy for him to "just plug and put me in anywhere."
"I think I'm pretty adaptable," he said. "If you need me to score, I can do that. If you need me to play defense, I can do that."
Looking ahead to his first NBA season, Dybantsa said his goal is to help the Wizards make the playoffs.
"D.C. has been waiting to make the playoffs for a long time now -- the fans deserve it, the city deserves it," he said.
He said he also has early plans to get involved with the team and help with efforts to give back.
"The Wizards are just super dialed into the community," he said. "I see them do a whole bunch of stuff with kids and hospitals, at school, so I'm definitely gonna be tapped in with them."
He added, "I also have my own foundation, which is called the AJ Dybantsa Foundation, where we're going to start with 20 kids in Jamaica and Congo to send them to different colleges. But after that, we're going to start going all over the world."
