{"id":637761,"date":"2026-03-04T00:53:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T00:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/637761\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T00:53:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T00:53:20","slug":"aj-dybantsa-says-he-might-not-leave-byu-despite-nba-draft-projections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/637761\/","title":{"rendered":"AJ Dybantsa says he ‘might not leave’ BYU despite NBA Draft projections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid a strong freshman season at BYU<\/a>, AJ Dybantsa<\/a> continues to make his case to go No. 1 overall in the 2026 NBA Draft. But he indicated he might not wind up declaring, instead saying he \u201cmight not leave\u201d BYU, after all.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa dropped hints about his future while speaking with Deseret News<\/a>, telling McKay Coppins his mom wants him to get his degree. When asked whether he thinks he\u2019ll go No. 1 overall, Dybantsa responded, \u201cI might not leave,\u201d and he clarified he \u201cmight not leave college\u201d when asked what he meant.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa also said he has \u201cjust got to get to the end of the season\u201d and still might wind up leaving for the draft. Of course, he expects the \u201cone more year\u201d chants to ring down as BYU goes through its final regular-season games. But he added he\u2019ll have to talk with his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, because my mom wants me to graduate,\u201d Dybantsa said when asked whether he made up his mind about declaring. \u201cSo I might not leave. But I might leave. I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans might get into my head and talk about one more year, maybe three more years. I don\u2019t know. But I\u2019m going to have to talk to my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dybansta has lived up to the billing after arriving at BYU as the top recruit in the country. He\u2019s averaging 24.9 points this year to lead the Cougars while adding 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals on average. He\u2019s also shooting 53% from the field and 36.3% from three-point territory.<\/p>\n

But as he looks ahead to his future, Dybantsa made it clear his mom wants him to get his degree. The reason, he said, is beyond the basketball court.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs mom, she\u2019s thinking post-basketball,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cAnd God forbid, if anything happens to me, [she thinks] I should always have a backup plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, given his impressive season, the wide expectation is Dybantsa will declare for the draft. On3\u2019s Jamie Shaw III<\/a> listed him as the No. 1 overall player on his latest Big Board<\/a>, and ESPN projected him as the No. 2 overall pick in its most recent mock draft last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AJ Dybantsa said he knows what people think he\u2019ll do. But he emphasized he didn\u2019t say anything definitive, either way, regarding his future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can assume,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cI didn\u2019t say anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid a strong freshman season at BYU, AJ Dybantsa continues to make his case to go No. 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5387,7,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-637761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-aj-dybantsa-25-utah-prep","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116168176805704675","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}