Dybantsa will likely arrive in Provo, Utah, as the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA<\/a> Draft, unequivocally the biggest star in college basketball for a year.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s what the NBA is looking for,\u201d said an NBA front-office executive, who was granted anonymity so they could speak freely. \u201cWings with legitimate size that understand the game can create offense and then, in theory, can guard multiple guys.\u201d<\/p>\n When Dybantsa donated the Gatorade check to the local Boys & Girls Club as a high school freshman, he presumed that money coming later would be once he shook NBA commissioner Adam Silver\u2019s hand on draft night. But NIL exploded overnight, and Dybantsa was the star of the bidding war that has defined this new era of college basketball.<\/p>\n AJ Dybantsa meets a young fan at a school in his hometown of Brockton, MA. (Jared Weiss \/ The Athletic)<\/p>\n The irony was he had no idea how much he was making. Ace\u2019s job was to handle the business side; AJ\u2019s job was books and ball.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople just gonna talk, but I (didn\u2019t) even know how much I\u2019m getting. They just tell my dad all of that,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to make it to the NBA, so wherever they can get me the fastest there with the best development, there\u2019s a whole lot of pillars that come with it. Money\u2019s going to come if I do the work, so I\u2019m not worried about the money in a year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Ain\u2019t no Plan B\u2019<\/p>\n One day early in Dybantsa\u2019s junior season, he was towering over a group of elementary school students while visiting a class in his hometown. The children are in awe of this gigantic kid who isn\u2019t that much older than them.<\/p>\n Most of them don\u2019t exactly know who he is, but they know he is somebody. Dybantsa used to be the one looking up to people, but now they look up to him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good feeling. Basketball was funner when there was nothing going on when we were all 10 years old,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cNobody got skill, everybody\u2019s the same. It was way more fun. But now people judge you for who you are. The same people who hate on you are the same people in the stands trying to ask for a picture. The game\u2019s still fun, but it\u2019s different now.\u201d<\/p>\n Once he\u2019s walking back to his dad\u2019s car, the dynamic shifts back to normal. Ace tells AJ he needs to go home, do his homework and make some lunch. He has to clean his room, even if he only visits for a few days a month.<\/p>\n \u201cI tell AJ all the time, you may be No. 1 in the country, but in my house, you ain\u2019t No. 1,\u201d Ace says with a big smile. \u201cWhen the coach yells at him, I say, \u2018AJ, I love you, don\u2019t I?\u2019 He says, \u2018Yes, you do.\u2019 When the coach yells at you, he loves you. He wants you to correct what you\u2019re doing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Ace\u2019s favorite stories to recall are of all the times he called his son\u2019s coaches and told them to \u201cbench his ass\u201d because AJ did not uphold his parents\u2019 lofty standards. In sixth grade, AJ didn\u2019t make the honor roll. Ace told the coach they were driving to New Jersey for a tournament, but his son was not playing in either of their games.<\/p>\n \u201cThe coach looked at me and said, \u2018You\u2019re really gonna drive six hours?\u2019\u2009\u201d Ace said. \u201cI told him, \u2018You heard what I said.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n When they arrived at the gym, Dybantsa went to warm up just as he always does, but then his coach approached and whispered something in his ear. Dybantsa spent the game watching from the sideline. But for the second game, the coach decided the punishment was enough.<\/p>\n Lesson learned, at least by his standard. But not Ace\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, on the drive home, I (told AJ), \u2018Next time, I won\u2019t even bother bringing you to the tournament,\u2019\u2009\u201d Ace said. \u201cEver since then, honor roll.\u201d<\/p>\n AJ (left) and Ace Dybantsa (right) together in January 2024. (Jared Weiss \/ The Athletic)<\/p>\n The younger Dybantsa brings up the phrase \u201csugarcoating\u201d often. He is criticized by his dad every day, so criticism from his coaches and the public doesn\u2019t phase him.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you get sugarcoated your whole life, you ain\u2019t ever gonna get better,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201c(My dad) being tough on me and my sisters has impacted us in a way. Everybody wants something handed to them, but we know life is not gonna work like that.\u201d<\/p>\n He has an aversion to sweets now. Tell him like it is, and he can work with that. Ask anyone who has been around Dybantsa about what makes him special, and it will take a while before you hear about his game.<\/p>\n \u201cAJ is the total package on and off the floor,\u201d said Ryan Bernardi, his coach at Prolific Prep. \u201cHe is extremely respectful, he\u2019s charismatic, great personality. \u2026 I believe these traits were instilled in him by his parents.\u201d<\/p>\n Passing always came naturally to Dybantsa, as he claims that he\u2019s just now learning how to be a true scorer. Bernardi and Ace were constantly on him for not being aggressive enough in pursuing his shot while at Prolific. The younger Dybantsa always maintains the last thing he wants is to be known as a ball hog.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mindset will never be just scoring. I\u2019m always going to pass,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cThere\u2019s never going to be a game where I have zero assists. I like making sure that everybody eats.\u201d<\/p>\n What makes Dybantsa such a tantalizing prospect is that he is already such a complete player, a former center turned playmaking wing. His blend of balance, IQ, skill and explosiveness make him one of the most promising players to enter college this century. Dybantsa was measured during his September visit to Kansas at 6-foot-8 1\/2 in socks with a 7-1 wingspan, according to Ace. His height is up half an inch from the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n He\u2019s a gazelle attacking the rim and can pull up over anyone from every spot on the floor, levitating to a height where contests are merely suggestions that luck should intervene on the defense\u2019s behalf. Dybantsa\u2019s passing reads out of pick-and-rolls are some of the best at his position. He\u2019s a brick wall on defense, flipping his hips to steer drivers more smoothly than players half his size. There is much room for improvement, but the holes in his game are measured at a molecular level.<\/p>\n When Boston-area skill trainer Brandon Ball first started shaping Dybantsa\u2019s game, most of his pupils worked out twice a day during the summer. But Dybantsa, then 14, was different. It reminded Ball of his star client Terrence Clarke, who was one of the top players in the nation at the time, before dying in a car accident.<\/p>\n Dybantsa would arrive at the gym at 6 a.m., and they would work on building his skill set. He would lift weights at 9 a.m. and then return to the gym to work on his jumper at noon. He would have a game at 6 p.m., which should be the end of it. But no, one more workout on the floor postgame.<\/p>\n \u201cMost kids can\u2019t do three times a day, but he has great body language at every single stop,\u201d Ball said. \u201cHe understood the mission early, and Terrence was the same way. The kid\u2019s work ethic is different.\u201d<\/p>\n Most kids that age have lives outside the gym. Not Dybantsa. He proudly claims he doesn\u2019t do anything outside of ball and school. Ask him what his hobbies are, they\u2019re basketball and basketball. There\u2019s a reason BYU\u2019s more buttoned-up campus culture wasn\u2019t a deterrent for him.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a commonality to most players who maximize their careers in the NBA. They were the ones who were getting in extra work while their peers were playing video games or going to the movies. They were taught something on the court once and then can do it an hour later as if they\u2019ve known it their whole life.<\/p>\n As Dybantsa grew and quickly became one of the best players in the country, it cemented his unwavering belief that basketball was going to be his future, not that anyone who knew him was questioning it at that point.<\/p>\n \u201cMy life motto is \u2018Ain\u2019t no Plan B. I plan who I\u2019m supposed to be,\u2019\u2009\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cPeople always ask me if I have a Plan B. Nah, I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Prince of the NIL revolution<\/p>\n A year ago, Dybantsa had never heard of Utah Prep. Few people had.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a reclamation project of a defunct school that relocated to Hurricane, Utah, but it\u2019s not pronounced hurricane<\/a>. Ask a local to explain its Scouse roots for you to understand.<\/p>\n Shortly after joining a star-studded roster at Prolific Prep, an Adidas school, Dybantsa signed a deal with Nike that ends before his college career begins. Now that NIL has made every high school offseason a free-agency period, Prolific knew there was a good chance Dybantsa was heading off to a Nike program for his senior year. Enter Utah Prep.<\/p>\n \u201cFor everyone involved, this was a first of its kind,\u201d Bernardi said. \u201cA new precedent had been set, and we are all trying to figure it out as it goes. I think the mindset of \u2018What\u2019s your offer\u2019 has been the biggest change and you have to make quicker decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n BYU donors facilitated an April visit to the school for Ace and Chelsea before they took a trip down to Provo to see the college\u2019s campus. That was when they first met incoming BYU coach Kevin Young, who was then the top assistant for the Phoenix Suns but traveled out of Arizona in the middle of a playoff series to host the visit.<\/p>\n Dybantsa cheers with BYU student fans during a recent game in Provo, Utah. (Chris Gardner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Utah Prep reportedly offered Ace $600,000 and an ownership stake in the fledgling program, according to the Salt Lake Tribune<\/a>. Done deal. AJ visited, saw the mountains in the distance and signed up for the move. There was nothing else to do there, which is just how he liked it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_3574-scaled.jpg\")
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