We're handing out grades for every first-round pick of the 2026 NBA Draft:
1. Washington Wizards
AJ Dybantsa, 6-9, BYU freshman forward
Grade: A+
The Wizards finally land their star. Dybantsa could become one of the NBA’s most unstoppable shot-creators. At 6-foot-9, he has a special blend of athletic tools the way he bends, shifts, and explodes with the ball in his hands. Dybantsa led the nation with 25.5 points per game while breaking Danny Ainge’s 48-year-old BYU freshman scoring record with a 43-point eruption. He gets to the rim at will, cooks in the midrange, draws fouls at a high rate, and displays point forward potential. After weeks of deliberating between Dybantsa and Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Dybantsa likely got the nod because he’s significantly taller and comes with less baggage.
In Washington, the pressure will be alleviated off AJ early in his career, now that he's teammates with two veterans in an All-Star-caliber big man in Anthony Davis and point guard Trae Young, who agreed to re-sign. The Wizards could even be quite competitive early on in Dybantsa’s career, especially if their existing young players get even better: Alex Sarr already looks like an effective two-way big, while guards and wings like Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Will Riley, and Bilal Coulibaly have all shown flashes at one time or another. But none of them project to be a superstar like Dybantsa, whose upside will be determined by whether he can become a knockdown 3-point shooter, as well as a more impactful defender to take full advantage of his physical tools. But the native of Brockton, Mass., has a tremendously high floor with his scoring skill alone that gives the Wizards a face of the franchise to build around and the ceiling to be a future MVP.
2. Utah Jazz
Darryn Peterson, 6-5, Kansas freshman guard
As much as Jazz owner and BYU alum/donor Ryan Smith might have wanted to keep Dybantsa in Utah, it could end up for the best to land Peterson, who is a buttery smooth scorer with a blend of fluid body control and positional size that gives him the ingredients to become an elite NBA player. At the high school level, he was a dynamic playmaker who used his burst to get into the teeth of defenses and generate buckets for himself and his teammates, while also showing off the kind of shot-making that draws comparisons to Hall of Famers. At Kansas, he thrived in an off-ball role, stroking jumpers out of movement actions and showing he can scale up or down depending on what a roster needs.
Peterson will join a talented young group featuring Ace Bailey, Cody Williams, Brice Sensabaugh, and Keyonte George, so his ability to shine with and without the ball will be highly valuable. The concern isn't his game. It's his body. He missed 11 of 35 games and pulled himself out of others due to cramping, which he claims are due to taking creatine. But it’s hard to imagine a better situation for Peterson. Even when he isn't scoring, he's a high-impact defender who causes chaos off-ball and has the 6-foot-11 wingspan to switch screens. Now he’ll have support around him with All-Stars Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the frontcourt, and the aforementioned blossoming young talents. The Jazz are actually pretty stacked on paper, especially if Walker Kessler re-signs and stays healthy next year. All this talent means that Peterson won’t have to play savior, and, like Bailey last year, can ease into his NBA routine as a rookie.
Grade: A+
3. Memphis Grizzlies
Cameron Boozer, 6-8, Duke freshman forward
Grade: A+
This choice was an easy one for the Grizzlies: Just take the best remaining of the top three prospects, and go home happy. And Grizzlies fans should be after landing the most polished player in the class. At 6-foot-8 and 253 pounds, Boozer scores from the post with both footwork and power, hits 40% of his 3s on high volume, and has enough handle to run offense as a point forward. He shifts between those modes based on what the defense gives him, and that adaptability led to a 35-win season at Duke and the Naismith Player of the Year. The worry is that he’s not a vertical athlete and the foundation of all that production — overpowering smaller defenders — gets diminished against NBA length. Plus, he’s a modern tweener on defense, lacking the explosiveness and size to protect the rim full-time and the lateral quickness to switch onto guards.
But Boozer is at his best defensively when paired with a true center, and he’s got one by his side in Zach Edey. With Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells, and the other young guys in Memphis — plus whatever pieces get dealt for Ja Morant, who league sources say remains likely to get traded — the Grizzlies now have one of the league’s best young cores. With the bloodline of two-time All-Star Carlos Boozer, the Grizzlies are betting that skill, adaptability, and a track record of winning at every level all lead to superstardom.
