{"id":695263,"date":"2026-04-03T04:13:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695263\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T04:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:13:18","slug":"the-talk-holding-up-byu-star-aj-dybantsas-2026-nba-draft-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695263\/","title":{"rendered":"The talk holding up BYU star AJ Dybantsa\u2019s 2026 NBA Draft decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AJ<\/p>\n

AJ Dybantsa #3 of the BYU Cougars holds the ball during the game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Fifth Third Arena on March 3, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio.<\/p>\n

AJ Dybantsa is still unsure about his NBA draft decision.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s still waiting for a conversation with the person closest to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t talked to my mom. She has pretty much been making a lot of my decisions in life for me,\u201d Dybantsa said during an appearance on Yahoo Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa, who is widely expected to be a top-three \u2014 if not No. 1 overall<\/a> \u2014 pick in June\u2019s draft, has consistently refused to say<\/a> whether he\u2019d leave BYU after his freshman year, and he\u2019s apparently still not ready to do so.<\/p>\n

\"AJ<\/p>\n

AJ Dybantsa of the BYU Cougars reacts to a call during a game against the Kansas State Wildcats in the first half during the first round of the Big 12 Tournament at T-Mobile Center on March 10, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI know she wants me to graduate college, so I don\u2019t know if she is basing it off of, \u2018Yeah, you\u2019re going to stay in school to graduate or if she just wants me to go accomplish my dreams,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cWho knows?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dybantsa has described his mother, Chelsea, as the \u201cbig boss\u201d on major decisions<\/a> in his basketball career.<\/p>\n

She is said to have helped him choose where to play high school basketball and decide on going to BYU for his college experience.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa\u2019s father, Ace, is serving as his manager as he navigates the NIL world.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa was dominant during his freshman season, averaging 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting 51 percent from the field.<\/p>\n

His play earned him AP All-America First Team honors.<\/p>\n

\"AJ<\/p>\n

AJ Dybantsa of the BYU Cougars holds the ball during the game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Fifth Third Arena on March 3, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Dybantsa led the Cougars to a 23-12 record during the regular season with little star talent around him in their rotation.<\/p>\n

As a No. 6 seed, BYU was upset by Texas<\/a> in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, although Dybantsa did all he could in that game, scoring 35 points on 11-of-25 shooting with 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AJ Dybantsa #3 of the BYU Cougars holds the ball during the game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[2695,7,3294,18992,10846,20580,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-695263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-aj-dybantsa","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-byu-cougars","11":"tag-chelsea","12":"tag-cincinnati-bearcats","13":"tag-fifth-third-arena","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116338834073762514","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695263","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=695263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}