The 2026 NBA Draft is fast approaching, with the Washington Wizards holding the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft. While no one knows exactly what’s going to happen, BYU standout and Red Bull signature athlete AJ Dybantsa is widely expected to be selected by the Wizards with the first overall pick in the 2026 Draft.
Dybantsa had a stellar freshman season with the BYU Cougars, averaging 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.1 steal per game while shooting 51.0 percent from the field and 33.1 percent from three. He was also a player correspondent for the league during the NBA Finals, which gave him a chance to experience one of the craziest games in NBA history. as the Knicks overcame a 29-point deficit in Game 4.
“It was the craziest game I watched live,” Dybantsa told ClutchPoints. “Obviously, they were down 29 points and they just started chipping away at it. That was the loudest gym I’ve ever been in, it was ridiculous.”
As Dybantsa prepares for the Draft, he sat down with ClutchPoints for an exclusive interview before the big day, discussing a number of topics from on the court to off of it.
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Tomer Azarly: I’m sure there’s been a plethora of draft stuff coming your way and a lot of interests and everything. How are you doing? How are you dealing with everything right now?
AJ Dybantsa: There’s been a whirlwind of stuff, but I’m doing good.
Tomer Azarly: Not a lot of 19 year olds can say that they’ve experienced this much at this age from traveling the world. I think you were attending the NBA Finals last month. What’s this last month just been like before, some would say, is the biggest night of your life? The NBA draft.
AJ Dybantsa: It’s been fun. I mean, I’ve been around the whole world. I was in Paris and Budapest and I was in New York. I mean, I was trying to get some knowledge from the people in the Finals, went to Paris to go do some marketing stuff, get my draft suit, went to go watch a couple soccer games, a couple of tennis games. So I mean, it’s a lot of like media and marketing in between it, but I get to have some fun and go watch some sports games.
Tomer Azarly: I mean, obviously you’re an athlete first, but have you shifted into some of that business mindset and started to look at other things down the line besides just the athlete side of things?
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah. I mean, so that’s why I was over there. A lot of marketing, a lot of just trying to get to know people, networking.
Tomer Azarly: Now, I know you were at the NBA Finals. You chose a heck of a game to end up going to, game four of the Finals at MSG. Can you tell me what it was like for you? I mean, I saw the video, you were losing your mind. What was it like to experience that atmosphere, that game, that history in that arena?
AJ Dybantsa: It was the craziest game I watched live. Obviously, they were down 29 points and they just started chipping away at it. That was the loudest gym I’ve ever been in, it was ridiculous.
Tomer Azarly: Have you thought about what it would be like to step into an arena like that and be in that kind of environment and be in that kind of situation before, you know, five seconds left on the clock, need a bucket. Have you thought about things like that?
AJ Dybantsa: I mean, yeah. When you’re a kid, that’s all you practice when you’re outside my courts right there and back at home. You just practice counting down from five and if you miss, you do it again until you make it. And that’s kind of what you dream of.
Tomer Azarly: Now I’ve seen your father’s kind of around you everywhere you go. What’s it been like to bring him along for this ride and kind of experience everything that you have while you’re going through it?
AJ Dybantsa: I mean, it’s fun. I mean, I wouldn’t want to do it with nobody else. He’s been there with me since day one. He’s the only one I trust to protect me and stuff like that. So I mean, it’s fun to bring him around.
Tomer Azarly: What role has he played in where you are today?
AJ Dybantsa: Everything just taught me not even about basketball because he didn’t even play basketball for real. He introduced me to the game, but he just taught me more so about life, just becoming a young man and how to deal with certain stuff.
Tomer Azarly: What about your mother? What role has she played in just your upbringing and where you are today?
AJ Dybantsa: More so just about being a person, you know, bringing me back home, showing me culture, just teaching me the right things.
Tomer Azarly: I think your dad is, I believe, from the Congo and your mom’s Jamaican. Is that correct?
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah, that’s correct.
Tomer Azarly: What is like to have those kind of nationalities and culture in the family, what does that do for you? Is there a sense of pride in both of those for you?
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah, I mean, so I’ve been back multiple times and you kind of see where they come from. You kind of respect and you kind of just gave up what you have here in the United States, having a lot of privileges and freedom.
Tomer Azarly: At 19 years old, you’re obviously like, you’re so talented. We’ve seen the athleticism and the skill. What is it like that balance knowing that you are, you know, one of the most talented players in the world, but also you have so much room to grow at just 19 years old?
AJ Dybantsa: I mean, it’s exciting because I haven’t even tapped into my full potential yet. Obviously, I mean, I hope I’m still growing, still getting stronger and I’m just not as polished yet. So I mean, it’s only, it’s going to be fun to see what happens. And I mean, I don’t know how many years, probably like eight years, eight years to see like what it’ll be like.
Tomer Azarly: When do you first remember picking up a basketball?
AJ Dybantsa: I was five when I got introduced to it, but a real basketball, probably like six. I was just playing like the mini hoop when I was five.
Tomer Azarly: So then, so then were you immediately like in love with it? Do you remember being immediately in love with it?
AJ Dybantsa: I mean, I wasn’t like really in love with the game, but it’s like, that’s why I started to enjoy it. I didn’t really start loving the game probably till like COVID.
Tomer Azarly: Did anything happen to trigger that, that you, you finally the click with basketball?
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah. I kind of just clicked. I was playing against order guys, getting beat up, driving an hour and thirty to go work out. I was kind of bugging my dad to work out. When I came back, I grew like five inches and I’m starting to kill people out, played varsity as an eighth grader and I thought, ‘I could probably go somewhere far with this.’
Tomer Azarly: I like how you casually dropped, you just grew five inches over like a summer or something.
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah, it was like three months. I grew like five inches.
Tomer Azarly: So you say you drove an hour and a half to go work out?
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah. Every day my dad drove me an hour and a half to Middleton Island.
Tomer Azarly: That’s passion. That’s love right there.
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah, that’s when I started to realize that if I’m going to drive out on 30 for this, I might as well, like, lock in.
Tomer Azarly: What end of the floor do you enjoy playing the most right now, offense or defense?
AJ Dybantsa: It’s a little bit of both. I mean, defense is fun. I mean, when I lock in, I can really be a good defender. Defense is super fun, but obviously, like, playmaking and scoring is also fun, so I wouldn’t know how to answer that. I don’t want to pick one.
Tomer Azarly: Well, like, okay, let’s talk about offense. Obviously, you’re multifaceted. You can do everything. Where do you feel like you’re the best? When are you at your best offensively?
AJ Dybantsa: When I’m in attack mode, once I get two feet up in the air, I can pretty much do anything. I can raise up and shoot, I can draw a double teams and kick it out. I can draw a double teams and throw it up to my big. So when I’m in attack mode, but I’m pretty hard to stop.
Tomer Azarly: And defense, I think we’ve seen, especially in the NBA Finals, you’ve seen a lot of guys be, like, really good help defenders. You’ve seen a lot of guys take the pride in the challenge one on one. Do you think you’re better at one than the other, or do you want to be kind of all around with that?
AJ Dybantsa: You definitely want to be all around, but right now, I’m probably saying I’m better at on-ball, just trying to be disruptive.
Tomer Azarly: What are some things that you really want to add to your game that you’ve been working on this summer?
AJ Dybantsa: Off-ball defense, just being help side and getting weak side blocks, being more into passing lanes, and then just trying to be a non-down three-pointer shooter.
Tomer Azarly: Is the three-point shot something you feel like you must have in today’s NBA?
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah, definitely. You got to be, I mean, as a wing, you probably should be at, like, minimum 35%, probably. But a very good shooter, probably 40, 41.
Tomer Azarly: What’s something unexpected that fans should know about you, or maybe some of the people don’t know about you that they should know?
AJ Dybantsa: I mean, pretty much everybody knows everything. I’m pretty boring now. There’s not too much to know.
Tomer Azarly: What do you like to do for fun?
AJ Dybantsa: Sleep. I’ve been golfing and fishing a couple times, but I’ve been kind of busy. I kind of didn’t really have time to do it this year.
Tomer Azarly: What’s your first or favorite NBA memory that you can recall having? Favorite NBA memory?
AJ Dybantsa: First was watching, well, yeah, I think I watched the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, era when they were in Boston. And then I watched [Stephen] Curry. I don’t know what game it was. I think it was, like, 2016 Curry at the Garden. I watched so many basketball games in person. But there’s been a lot. I watched LeBron’s Celtics when he got fouled at the end and they didn’t call it, and Pat Bev had the camera, and he was on the floor. Like, I was at that game. And then the Finals.
Tomer Azarly: Is the Finals game your favorite one?
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah, probably.
Tomer Azarly: Have you given any thought to, I mean, you’ve got a lot coming your way, but, like, what it’s going to be like to take the court with some of the guys you’ve been watching for most of your life?
AJ Dybantsa: Oh, yeah, it’ll be fun. Definitely, like, LeBron, if he’s still playing, but LeBron, Curry, KD, these guys that you’ve been watching for years and playing against them, it’ll definitely be fun.
Tomer Azarly: Have any of those guys maybe taken any mentorship roles with you and helped you out, as, you know, could you go through this process?
AJ Dybantsa: Yeah, I mean, Kevin Durant might be, like, the closest I’m with in the NBA. But LeBron, I mean, I’ve talked to LeBron plenty of times. I seen him a couple months ago when he played the Jazz. Curry, I only met once, though. I only met [Stephen] Curry once at his camp. I got invited to his camp.
Tomer Azarly: Is there anyone you haven’t met yet that you’re looking forward to meeting?
AJ Dybantsa: Michael Jordan.
Tomer Azarly: That’s a pretty good one. A couple rapid-fires for you. Are you more of an East Coast guy or a West Coast guy?
AJ Dybantsa: The East Coast! I’m from here. But you’re going to stick with it? I mean… Like, I did my predraft in L.A. I went to school in California. I actually like the West Coast, I think it’s more chill. But I’m from the East Coast, so I’m going to say the East Coast.
Tomer Azarly: Listen, man, you got enough of this L.A. sun, you might change that up.
AJ Dybantsa: No, actually, like, L.A. is too much. The traffic, it took us like 30 minutes to get to practice every day. It was like three miles away.
Tomer Azarly: Okay, fair. I get that. Are you more of an early bird or a night owl?
AJ Dybantsa: A little bit of both, actually. I mean, I’ll be working out early sometimes, but then sometimes I be working out late. Sometimes I stay up late, sometimes I wake up early. Anyway, it don’t matter. But I’ll probably say like night out. I’d rather do it at night.
Tomer Azarly: What’s your favorite food?
AJ Dybantsa: A seafood boil. When they crack lobster and crawfish.
Tomer Azarly: What’s your favorite video game? I don’t even play video games so like 2K.
AJ Dybantsa: Favorite off day activity? I’ll say going to a concert.
Tomer Azarly: Is there any particular artist you like to listen to?
AJ Dybantsa: The best concert I’ve been to? Probably Drake. I went to “Her Loss” Tour at TD Garden with 21 Savage.
Tomer Azarly: What’s your favorite sport outside of basketball?
AJ Dybantsa: American football. I used to play. I played like two and a half years at wide receiver and cornerback.
Tomer Azarly: Do you feel like that helped you with basketball at all?
AJ Dybantsa: Definitely. I started embracing physicality a lot more. But then the hand-eye coordination as well, yeah. You got a helmet on so you definitely need a hand-eye coordination.
The post Exclusive: AJ Dybantsa speaks on NBA Draft, experiencing Knicks in the NBA Finals, off-day hobbies, and more appeared first on ClutchPoints.
