AJ Dybantsa hasn’t played a regular-season NBA game yet, but the Washington Wizards already sound ready to hand him the keys.
That’s the bigger message coming out of the team’s Summer League run, where the buzz around the 2026 No. 1 pick has only grown louder. Washington spent years trying to patch together its future through the draft, landing on a young core that includes Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and Will Riley.
Those pieces helped create hope. They also helped set the stage for the Wizards to take bigger swings, including bringing in Trae Young and Anthony Davis.
Then the lottery finally broke their way.
With Dybantsa in the fold, the conversation has changed fast. The Wizards’ future no longer feels like a collection of promising parts.
It feels centered on one player. And during Washington’s Summer League game against the LA Clippers, Kenny Smith made that point as plainly as possible.
When Smith and Jeremy Lin were discussing the Wizards’ playoff outlook for this season, Smith didn’t dance around the hierarchy.
"It depends on their development and how fast that happens. And also how fast they acknowledge that he [AJ Dybantsa] is THE guy," Smith said.
Smith then doubled down on just how ready he thinks Dybantsa is to produce right away.
"It's gonna be the easiest 20 points per game in his life...He will never get doubled. He's going to shoot over 55%."
Lin’s response pushed the idea even further, saying Dybantsa should be the 1A option in his rookie year.
That’s a tough message for Young and Davis, both of whom have spent their careers as the primary options on their teams. But the way Dybantsa has looked in Summer League, the case for him being the centerpiece is hard to ignore. His scoring ability jumps off the screen, his feel for the game stands out for a player this young, and his two-way value gives him a path to major minutes immediately.
The Wizards may still have veteran talent and other young building blocks around him, but the direction is clear. If Washington is going to move forward, it will do so with AJ Dybantsa at the center.
In Other News...
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The Warriors have spent the offseason waiting for a major move that still has not come, and one of the names that has hovered around them is Anthony Davis. For Washington, though, the conversation has taken on a different tone. Brian Keefe and Michael Winger are both under pressure to show progress, and the franchise is being pushed to get the roster moving in the right direction after years of little traction.
That makes Davis a far more complicated name for the Wizards than it might have seemed a few weeks ago. Instead of treating him as a possible trade chip, the team may be more inclined to keep him as part of a broader attempt to stabilize the roster and build around its next wave of talent. For Golden State, it is another reminder that even when a star appears available, the path to a deal can get murky fast. [Read more 🡒]
Bilal Coulibaly Just Reached A Defining Moment In Washington
Bilal Coulibaly has arrived at a tricky stage in Washington, one that says as much about the Wizards new direction as it does about his own development. Under general manager Will Dawkins, the roster has changed fast, with Trae Young, Anthony Davis and AJ Dybantsa joining a group that suddenly looks far deeper and far more competitive than it did a year ago. For a young wing like Coulibaly, that kind of upgrade can be both a boost and a warning sign, because every minute in Brian Keefes rotation is going to have to be earned.
Coulibaly is entering year four at 21, and the question now is whether he can show enough growth to keep himself firmly in the picture as the Wizards sort through a crowded depth chart. Washington has plenty of young talent to sort through, and the logjam only makes the evaluation more important for a front office trying to balance development with winning. The next stretch should tell the Wizards a lot about where Coulibaly fits, and whether his place in the long-term plan is becoming clearer or more complicated. [Read more 🡒]
Clippers Get One More Tough Read On Keaton Wagler Vs Wizards
The Wizards and Clippers are set to meet in NBA Summer League after both teams came away from recent losses, with the game carrying a little extra weight for two clubs still sorting out what they have. Washingtons lineup has already been altered by the summer shutdown of top pick AJ Dybantsa, while Los Angeles keeps getting a closer look at fifth overall pick Keaton Wagler as he works through the early part of his pro introduction.
Wagler has shown real improvement across his first three games, which makes this matchup another useful test for the Clippers against a Washington group that will be playing on tired legs after a Tuesday game. Summer League can be messy by nature, but for Los Angeles this is still a chance to gauge whether Waglers early bounce is the start of something more stable. [Read more 🡒]