AJ Dybantsa can focus on ball because of his dad

CHICAGO — Will AJ Dybantsa be selected first overall in the 2026 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards? Will the Wizards pass on the former BYU star forward, leaving him to be selected by the Utah Jazz with the next pick? Will there be another surprise that lands Dybantsa somewhere unexpected?

The answer will be revealed tonight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and the heralded draft prospect believes he should be the top pick.

“I’ve shown it,” Dybantsa said to Andscape during the NBA predraft camp on May 11. “I’m super versatile. Super adaptable. So, it doesn’t matter what team you put me on, I can fit in. If you need like a playmaking guard, lead guard, I could play that. If you need someone to come in and score, I could do that. If you need a defender, I can do that. I’m just super versatile, and I’m filling out seats, and I’m just doing stuff for the community, so it’s like an all-in-one.”

During the 2025-26 season, Dybantsa led NCAA men’s Division I in scoring, averaging 25.5 points (51% shooting), 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game for the Cougars. The 2026 first-team All-American won the 2026 Julius Erving Award (given to the nation’s top forward) and was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. ESPN’s Jeremy Woo recently dropped Dybantsa to the second spot in his Top 100 prospects for the NBA draft behind Kansas guard Darryn Peterson.

Dybantsa said his new NBA team will get a player who will make an impact on and off the court.

“I will start on the court, I’m a very versatile [player],” Dybantsa said. “[I] can play [positions] 1 through 4. Guard 1 through 4. Playmaker. Scorer. I play the game the right way, but I do give the fans what they want. I put fans in the seats. [I’m a] very exciting player, very explosive, make a lot of highlight plays, but I try to play to win.

“But off the court, [I’m] just a good kid. I love giving back. So, whatever city I go to, I’m going to do a lot of community givebacks. Shoes for basketball squads. School supplies for the less fortunate. I love giving back. I already did it. I’m going to continue to do it.”

Guiding Dybantsa through his basketball journey is his father, Anicet “Ace” Dybantsa Sr.

AJ Dybantsa says his father handles all the off-the-court inquiries along with the aid of former NBA agent Leonard Armato, who represented Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. AJ Dybantsa has endorsement deals with Nike, Red Bull and Fanatics without having a full-time NBA agent or agency. There were also several reports that BYU paid AJ Dybantsa $7 million in name, image and likeness salary last season.

“It’s like 1,000 pounds lifted off. I don’t got to answer to all these people. I can just focus on books and ball,” AJ Dybantsa said about his father’s help.

Andscape is celebrating Father’s Day and the lead-up to the NBA draft with a Q&A series including some of the draft’s top prospects and their fathers. In this series, the fathers and soon-to-be-drafted sons discuss their relationship through basketball, life lessons, the perceptions of Black fatherhood, their excitement and anxiety regarding the draft, what type of player and person they are, and more.

The fathers and sons who participated include the Dybantsas; former Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr., and his father, Darius Acuff Sr.; former Tennessee forward Nate Ament and his father, Albert Ament; former Duke star forward Cameron Boozer and his father, former NBA star Carlos Boozer; former Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. and his father, Christopher Brown Sr.; and former Houston guard Kingston Flemings and his father, Demetric “Dee” Flemings.

---

What does your father mean to you?

AJ Dybantsa: Means a lot. He’s been with me since the jump. [He] literally watched me enter this world. Put a basketball in my hand. Been behind me through it all. That’s on the court. Off the court, all my success was credited to my mom.

You put a lot of it in your dad’s hands in terms of your basketball career. What built that trust?

AJ Dybantsa: It was kind of just proven when I stepped into this space. It was a business. He kind of showed that he can work that route. When people are on my back, I just hand it to them, and you kind of know what to say.

The NBA draft is two days after Father’s Day. What does the timing mean to you?

AJ Dybantsa: It’s good timing. We obviously had the [draft] lottery on Mother’s Day, so I got to share that with my mom. And then two days after Father’s Day will be the draft. So, just a month full of family. It’ll feel good to celebrate the draft and getting selected with both my parents and my sisters right there.

Why have you been so unapologetic about how you and your son are doing things in terms of his basketball career?

Ace Dybantsa: It’s about trust. I don’t trust too many people. I’m a cop. Well, I was. Still [am]. Once a cop, always a cop. I don’t trust many people. And if I can do it myself, why not?

When did you know you could do it yourself?

Ace Dybantsa: AJ’s eighth-grade year. First of all, I don’t like this narrative of Black parents being stupid, dumb, they don’t know how to do. I’m like, “Really. OK. I’ll show you.” You just learn through stuff. Ask questions. Surround yourself with people that you trust. It’s not too many. But you know, there’s a few. The guy behind [Armato] is one of them. And go from there.

You came from Africa, but what is the narrative that you heard about Black fathers in America?

Ace Dybantsa: They don’t understand. They don’t know how to do business, this and that. I’m like, “All right.” I came from Africa, but I came by plane, not by boat.

What do you think people are learning by the way that you’ve been conducting business successfully with your son?

Ace Dybantsa: Trust yourself, trust God, ask questions, and surround yourself with people that you can trust. Not too many, at least one or two.

How many times have people tried to go behind him to get to you? And how do you handle that?

AJ Dybantsa: How do I handle it? “Go talk to my dad.” Easiest thing I could say. People try to come to me after games. I change my phone number often, so I don’t get too many texts. But after games, he’s barely not there. But the times that he hasn’t been there, I’d be like, “Bro, just call my dad. I’m not gonna deal with you.”

You aren’t even in the NBA yet, but you have landed a bunch of deals like Red Bull. How?

AJ Dybantsa: Nike, Fanatics. I turned down maybe a dozen that don’t make sense. The deal has to make sense. Leonard and I talk about it, and then we negotiate.

How did you guys build this business platform?

Ace Dybantsa: Believing in God. Just ask questions with people that have been there before and go from there. It’s not that hard.

When did you first put a basketball in his hands, or when did he first fall in love with the game that you can recall?

Ace Dybantsa: Four [years old]. Thanks to Spider-Man. He didn’t want to play basketball, but he was 4. Yeah, I tried to force it. It didn’t work, but he was in love with Spider-Man. He has everything Spider-Man. So, in 2012, he was 5 at the time. We just moved to a new house, and I went shopping at Kmart. I came across a basket board, a tiny one board that you put in the back of your bedroom door, covered with Spider-Man. I look up in the sky, I say, “Thank you, Jesus.” I went home, showed to him. The rest is history.

When did you know that what you were seeing from him on the court was different?

Ace Dybantsa: Eighth grade. It was during COVID [coronavirus pandemic]. I don’t know if you remember, but all of the gyms were closed. So, I had a little setup in the backyard. I got a hoop. I put [him] on plyometric boxes. Every day, him and his sister used to jump, used to shoot. And during COVID, every day I drove to Middletown, Rhode Island, to go see his eighth-grade coach, coach Joe Saunders, shout out Coach, and he worked him out outside with high school kids.

[AJ] was in seventh going into eighth grade. [Saunders] worked him out every day and used to yell at him; [AJ] used to cry. He didn’t realize that was a process, and he grew 5 inches. So, when he came out of Covid he was a different kid. He was doing the punishing now.

Then he played football, which helped for his physicality. My wife didn’t want him to play football. [She said], “He’s going to get a concussion.” I was like, “He could get a concussion playing basketball.” And I let him play football, and then when he gets to 6-foot-4, done. You play football for two years after that, you welcome the physicality.

Where did you get your competitive spirit?

AJ Dybantsa: Coach Joe, my eighth-grade coach, kind of instilled in me a lot. When I first got to him, I didn’t really love the game of basketball. It was just fun to me. I didn’t really care about wins and losses, and when I kind of learned the importance of winning and hating to lose, I started to get that competitive fire in me. I just started competing everything I do. And I got to a point where I didn’t like losing.

You guys are always around each other and have a love for each other. It almost looks like you’re best friends. Do you guys have like a father-son, brotherhood?

Ace Dybantsa: I’m his dad, not his friend. Let’s make that clear.

Every time I see you, I see your dad. I assume you never get tired of it?

AJ Dybantsa: Oh, I do.

How do you get through the tired times?

AJ Dybantsa: Bro, he’s right there, I can’t get through him, bro. Keep going, bro. Nothing you can do about it. You live with me, bro.

How do things change when you get to the NBA?

AJ Dybantsa: He’s going to live close. Same street, maybe in-law [unit]. I had my own spot at BYU. Thank you, bro.

At what point do you say, “I’m going to step back?”

Ace Dybantsa: Once he shows me he can handle himself, then I’ll move south.

How close is he to that?

Ace Dybantsa: A few years.

Why is it so important for you to be there?

Ace Dybantsa: Too many snakes out there. Somebody has got to protect them.

When basketball fathers come up to you seeking advice, what do you tell them?

Ace Dybantsa: Stay close to your son. He’s not your friend. You’re the daddy. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

You have given back to the community in your native Brockton, Massachusetts, where you are from, your mother’s native Jamaica and in your father’s native Republic of the Congo. How did you learn that giving back with your platform was important?

AJ Dybantsa: When I was 4, I went back to the Congo, where [my dad] is from. And he was giving back pens and pencils to his elementary school. I kind of saw the importance. So, education has always been instilled in me. Giving back has always been instilled in me. So, when I got my first NIL deal with Nike, I gave back to city of Brockton. Education has always been important. So, we come up with my own foundation, the AJ Dybantsa Foundation, which helps out. We have raised money to send kids from Jamaica and the Congo to different universities in the continent [Africa] or different universities here.

What does draft day look like for you? Are you anxious, nervous?

AJ Dybantsa: I think draft day will be easier than the [draft] lottery. I was scared in the lottery. I don’t know who’s going to get the pick. I don’t know who was going to get what. It’s just 14 teams. Obviously, I’m projecting myself to be a No. 1 pick, rightfully so, as I stated why I think I should be a No. 1 pick. But whatever trades happen, or whatever happens and whatever team is still the No. 1 team on draft day, I think we’re pretty easy. I’m trying to get [selected] first.

What do you think of the unknown of draft night?

AJ Dybantsa: Anything can happen. I’m on social media. They are already mocking up trades. So, you don’t know what could happen. … A lot of phone calls will be made. So, I’m not predicting anything yet, but on June 23, I’m betting on myself to be picked in the first 15 minutes.

What is it going to be like to see your last name on the back of a jersey in the NBA?

AJ Dybantsa: I’m gonna think of my dad. That’s his name. That’s not mine. I wish it was here.

What would he think about it?

AJ Dybantsa: He’d be proud.

What does he mean to you?

AJ Dybantsa: Everything. Without him, I would have been who I am today. Not even as a basketball player, as a person. So, I’m just super grateful.

What pride do you have in your last name?

AJ Dybantsa: I just try to carry it. I told [my dad], “One day, I hope I have a son so he can carry it. So he can keep carrying the last name.” I told him I’m going to name him the third, and he said, “The third?” So, hopefully I have a son.

When he gets to the NBA, what lessons that you’ve instilled in him do you hope he is going to take with him?

Ace Dybantsa: One, listen to your parents. Two, work hard. Nothing is given. You got to earn it. Those are the main lessons. And believe in God always. I should have said that first. God first. Always.