June 27, 2026, 6:30 p.m. MT
AJ Dybantsa is already an elite scorer. He is not an elite defender. This brings up an honest point of concern for the Washington Wizards, as Yahoo! Sports notes:
“‘They signed Trae Young,’ Colin Cowherd continued. ‘They could have gotten out of the Trae Young business in a year. Instead, they go, ‘No, let’s commit four more years and numbers so big you will never move them.’
“Young provides elite playmaking and undeniable scoring ability, but needs the ball constantly and demands specific defensive coverages to hide his shortcomings.
“’I’m not anti-Trae Young,’ Cowherd said. ‘He’s a very good offensive player, but is he a winning player? Trae Young is going to take shots and not help you on the other side of the floor.’
“Dybantsa brings versatility and length, but a rookie wing cannot fix a porous perimeter defense on his own. If the Young contract raised eyebrows, the presence of Davis drew more concern from Cowherd. The veteran big man arrived in Washington but failed to log a single minute for the Wizards last year.”
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You can see where this is going: Trae Young is not a good defensive player. Anthony Davis is injury-prone and probably won’t be a member of the Wizards at this time next year. He’s a one-season player at this point. AJ Dybantsa is stepping into a roster with veterans who know their way around the league; that’s a positive. However, the veterans — as proven and established as they are — might not be the defensive anchors who will protect AJ Dybantsa at that end of the floor. The Wizards could be a lights-out offensive team, but they are likely to struggle on defense.
If the Wizards want to make the play-in round and narrow the gap between themselves and the eighth-place team in the NBA Eastern Conference, they will need to find enough defense to piece together their roster and rotation. This is where AJ Dybantsa might struggle in his NBA rookie season.