Is AJ Dybantsa clearly better than other projected top-4 draft picks?
Is AJ Dybantsa clearly better than other projected top-4 draft picks?
Matt Zemek, BYU Cougars WireMon, May 11, 2026 at 7:15 PM UTC
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Is AJ Dybantsa clearly better than other projected top-4 draft picks?
BYU basketball superstar AJ Dybantsa might be headed to Washington to play for the Wizards. Washington got the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft in Sunday's lottery. The presumption is that the BYU Cougar will go to DC. However, some analysts think the decision to take Dybantsa isn't as clear-cut as others might think.
The real question is this: Is there actually not that much of a difference among the top four picks in this draft class? Is Caleb Wilson of North Carolina on the same plane as Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson? Is Cameron Boozer of Duke just as good a pick as Dybantsa or Peterson?
Columnist Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune seems to think the Jazz are going to be happy with whomever they get:
"The best players the Jazz ever drafted — Stockton and Malone — came via the No. 16 and No. 13 selections. No telling what they might add to that scant collection with the No. 2 pick in a deep draft. If, by some wild happenings, the Jazz wind up with Dybantsa, the kid from BYU, from the school boosted by Jazz owner Ryan Smith and the school at which the Ainges played, what a story that would be. The Jazz’s first two chapters would precede many more chapters worth reading over the next five or so seasons.
"Get a good reading light and punch up a pillow, Jazz fans. Add a future All-Star to a locker room with Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson, Ace Bailey, Walker Kessler, George, among other useful role players, and the narrative will leap off the page. As Dybantsa said into a camera on Sunday: 'It’s going to be exciting.' Yeah, it is.
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"Exciting is much better than the expletives hurled in the Delta Center for far too long now. From here on out, the language there will be celebratory, or at least temperate, not straight out of the gutter. The bounce of the basketball will determine that, now that the balls that ping and pong have handed the Jazz — and their fans — the gift they’ve cried and cursed for."
Monson is elated about the No. 2 pick, period. He's less focused on Dybantsa specifically and seems to buy the argument that the Jazz are going to end up with an elite player, presumably any of the top four -- Dybantsa, Peterson, Boozer, Wilson.
The Jazz have to do their homework and ask if Dybantsa is significantly better than the other three top-four projected picks. They also need to ask if all four players are similarly good. The answers to these questions should shape what Utah does. If Dybantsa really is that much better than Darryn Peterson, the Jazz need to bet big and trade up to No. 1 with the Wizards. If, on the other hand, there is a belief that Caleb Wilson is just as good as Peterson or Boozer, Utah should consider trading down to No. 4 with the Chicago Bulls, since Wilson might be there at No. 4.
There's a lot for the Jazz to think about. How they evaluate the top four picks is a very important matter.
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This article originally appeared on BYU Cougars Wire: Utah Jazz must weigh value of AJ Dybantsa versus other top players
Source: “AOL Sports”
