A rookie season in the East is going to be a brutal first test for AJ Dybantsa, and the Wizards can’t act like he has to solve it alone.
That much is clear from the way the conference is shaping up. The league just watched elite guard play and a superstar big man decide the title race when Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks got past Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs to win their first NBA championship in 53 years.
But lately, the real separator has been on the wing. Teams with an All-NBA-caliber small forward have had the clearest path to success, and the Eastern Conference is suddenly packed with them after free agency.
The list is long and uncomfortable for anyone trying to survive in that part of the bracket. The Raptors are expected to bring back Kawhi Leonard, the top-75 all-time forward who most likely returns to the franchise where he won its only championship in 2019.
He would join Scottie Barnes, another young wing on the rise and already an All-Star. Boston still has four-time first-team All-NBA forward and NBA champion Jayson Tatum.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is headed to the Miami Heat. Philadelphia, the offseason’s biggest winner, is adding Jaylen Brown and LeBron James, two former Finals MVPs.
The Knicks can roll out Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby on the defensive end, which only sharpens the blueprint: if you want to compete in the East, you better have elite forwards.
And that doesn’t even cover the rest of the crowd. Atlanta has Jalen Johnson.
Orlando has Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane. Charlotte has Brandon Miller.
Then there are established names who can still swing a game on any given night, including Boston’s Paul George, Brooklyn’s Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle.
That is a rough neighborhood for a No. 1 pick. Dybantsa, the top selection in a 2026 draft class that comes with serious hype, is going to be measured against the kind of instant impact fans have come to expect from players like Zion Williamson, Victor Wembanyama and, just last year, Cooper Flagg. But that kind of burden is not automatically the best thing for him or for Washington in his first year.
So the job for head coach Brian Keefe is straightforward: don’t load everything onto the future star’s shoulders.
The Wizards need to make use of the wing talent already around him. Will Riley and Tre Johnson stood out in Vegas, and Kyshawn George and Bilal Coulibaly are part of the mix too. If the group gets enough time and runway, the Wizards believe those wings can grow into something real, regardless of who is standing on the other side now or down the road.
In Other News...
Anthony Davis Holds The Key To The Wizards' Next Big Step
The Wizards next roster decision may come down to a familiar front-office balancing act: keeping a cornerstone happy while trying to stay nimble enough to build around him. Anthony Davis sits at the center of that equation, and Washingtons desire to retain him comes with the sort of salary-cap pressure that can force teams into tough compromises, especially under the NBAs second-apron rules. The organization also wants room to keep developing its young players, which makes every dollar tied up in the books matter even more.
Davis situation invites comparisons to stars such as Victor Wembanyama and Jalen Brunson, who accepted less than the maximum to give their teams more flexibility. Washington would love a similar outcome as it tries to preserve both present-day competitiveness and future breathing room, but the key question remains whether Davis will be willing to help make that path possible. For the Wizards, that answer could shape much more than one contract. [Read more 🡒]