{"id":639399,"date":"2026-03-04T19:06:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/639399\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T19:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:06:31","slug":"how-certain-is-aj-dybantsa-about-leaving-byu-for-the-nba-draft-heres-what-he-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/639399\/","title":{"rendered":"How certain is AJ Dybantsa about leaving BYU for the NBA draft? Here\u2019s what he said"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since AJ Dybantsa arrived at BYU<\/a>, the widespread expectation has been that he would be \u201cone-and-done,\u201d playing a single season in Provo before declaring for the NBA draft.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa and his father, Ace, even called it \u201chis goal\u201d when committing to the Cougars live on ESPN\u2019s \u201cFirst Take\u201d back in November 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the plan isn\u2019t entirely set in stone.<\/p>\n

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In an exclusive interview<\/a> this past weekend with the Deseret News\u2019 \u201cDeseret Voices\u201d podcast<\/a>, Dybantsa shared that he hasn\u2019t completely closed the door on staying in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I might not leave \u2026 like, I might not leave college,\u201d Dybantsa said, responding to if he believed he would be the top pick in this summer\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an outstanding freshman season for Dybantsa, who currently leads the nation in scoring at 24.9 points per game and has made a strong case to be selected No. 1 overall in June\u2019s NBA draft.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa did not offer any specifics, merely saying he had \u201cuntil the end of the season (to decide).\u201d<\/p>\n

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Whatever he decides to do, you can count on Dybantsa graduating at some point. Education is of the utmost importance in the Dybantsa family, with AJ having been long encouraged to get his bachelor\u2019s degree no matter where his NBA career takes him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom wants me to graduate. So I might not leave, but I might leave,\u201d Dybantsa said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

AJ Dybantsa and the NBA draft<\/p>\n

It still feels imminent that Dybantsa will enter his name into the draft, considering he\u2019s a practical lock to be selected in the top three, if not first overall.<\/p>\n

Financially, leaving BYU for the NBA makes perfect sense. Last year\u2019s No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg<\/a>, signed a four-year, $62.7 million contract after being picked first in the draft, making $13.8 million in his rookie season. The draft\u2019s No. 3 selection, VJ Edgecomb, signed for $50.4 million across four years.<\/p>\n

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Whatever compensation Dybantsa has earned at BYU, it wouldn\u2019t come close to an NBA rookie scale contract as a top three draft selection.<\/p>\n

BYU\u2019s previous draft export, Egor D\u00ebmin<\/a>, told reporters last year after the Cougars\u2019 Sweet 16 loss that he was not ruling out a return to college<\/a> despite being projected as a \u201cone-and-done\u201d talent himself. D\u00ebmin did end up declaring for the draft and being taken No. 8 overall by the Brooklyn Nets, but the decision went down to the wire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa\u2019s decision likely won\u2019t be as dramatic as D\u00ebmin\u2019s. All signs still point to a draft declaration for Dybantsa at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

\"1222bkccougars.spt_RG_00144_1.JPG\"<\/p>\n

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) smiles as he is interviewed after a basketball game against the Eastern Washington Eagles at the Marriott Center in Provo on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever since AJ Dybantsa arrived at BYU, the widespread expectation has been that he would be \u201cone-and-done,\u201d playing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2695,7,247,1580,225,227,6,12],"class_list":["post-639399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-draft","tag-aj-dybantsa","tag-basketball","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-byu","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-egor-demin","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116172476221713685","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639399","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=639399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}