No one would ever accuse the Washington Wizards, fresh off of limping out of a league-low 17-win campaign, of "suffering from success," but asserting that most of their top-billed talents have been held back by their greater team-wide context is a fair contention to hold entering the 2026-27 season.
Their deep bed of prospects, most of which have been lumped together into one faceless amalgamation after years of the franchise's regular draft lottery appearances, finally has a frontman in AJ Dybantsa . The summer's No. 1 NBA Draft pick will welcome a more competitive phase of the rebuild as the Wizards angle to stack wins with more regularity, as well as eyes from the viewing public who've yet to meaningfully distinguish most of Washington's non-Dybantsa prospects from one another.
Jun 25, 2026; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards first round draft pick and number one overall pick AJ Dybantsa (left) poses for a photo with his jersey and Wizards general manager Will Dawkins (right) during a press conference at InterContinental Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The draft capital-backed muzzles are finally set to come off of the Wizards' vast range of two-way contributors, first round-selected wings and bigs capable of positively influencing both sides of the ball. Dybantsa is the most famous of these multi-faceted difference-makers, but he's far from alone in filling one of the modern game's most basic archetypal needs.
Three pillars of the Wizards future remain a step ahead of the rest of the team's pack, though last year's 30th ranked defense had more subtle difference-makers than your average box score consumer would assume.
Even if we're accounting for Justin Champagnie and the presently-hampered Jamir Watkins as pure hustlers without the potential to do much on offense outside of finishing the occasional play, Bilal Coulibaly still ranks highly on the squad's list of two-way chips. In fact, he'd have been on every such top-three roundup over every other year of the rebuild; his exemption says a lot more about the stiff talent he's up against than any diminished production.
He actually enjoyed some of the better on-ball production of his young career down the stretch of this past spring, hoisting and making more 3-pointers than he'd grown accustomed to as an athletic slasher and rim-finisher.
When stacked up against some of his more productive and promising teammates, though, he's unfortunately priced out of the class he used to regularly attend.
Ranking the marquee name from this most recent draft class anywhere outside of the top spot may look a tad silly, but Dybantsa's defensive impact is just too theoretical for me to elevate him above a few of his more disruptive locker room neighbors.
BYU Cougars forward AJ Dybantsa (3) blocks a shot by Kansas State Wildcats guard Nate Johnson (34) during the game inside Bramlage Coliseum on Jan. 3, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
This isn't a knock on his lack of NBA experience, either; one of the reasons why some of Dybantsa's doubters hedged against the BYU star's stock was due to his lack of recorded stocks during his one-and-done stint as a collegiate star. He still has the physical tools and want-to to inspire the belief that he can lock up opposing threats when he isn't saddled with quite so many on-ball duties, though, a theory that fans got to see tested out during NBA Summer League and one that may come home to roost considering just how many other scorers he'll have to adapt alongside.
As if he hadn't already endeared himself enough to D.C.-area basketball fans with his pure will to win, he's already speficied his awareness regarding where he's focusing on improving next. Washington management began challenging him as an off-ball defender before they'd even finalized their initial draft selection.
He may one day surpass the other names populating Washington's depth chart from a defensive standpoint, but asking teenagers to regularly put opponents in jail while looking like the Rookie of the Year as a scorer is a tough ask, especially within the Wizards' present context. And when we compare Dybantsa to other recent draftees, it becomes quickly clear that there are levels to the respective defensive intrigue that different prospects have drawn.
Dybantsa vs. George makes for one of the best differentiators between how much the public values defense in these two-way conversations.
George isn't anywhere the pure prospect that Dybantsa was, going 24th-overall in the much-maligned 2024 NBA Draft , but he's rapidly improved from a rotational swingman into one of the group's most sure-handed shooters, multi-level creators and defensive seatbelt-bucklers. Those ancillary skills , exactly what Dybantsa looks to apply over the coming months, have already won the forward all of the support he needs to crash the fall's starting lineup - at least, in the eyes of the fans.
It helps that he has exactly what most of his fellow prospects lack in a strong, broad-shouldered frame, as well as the wherewithal to use his physical gifts to his advantage as a stopping artist. He's averaged a shade under two stocks per game over two years as a Wizard, doing some of his best defensive work yet last season as one of the group's go-to offensive handymen.
Add his solid awareness, switchability and capable defensive rebounding to his build, and the Wizards can expect exactly the well-rounded talent to give the rest of the starting-five whatever they'll need from the margins. George may have to wait for more bench-focused lineups before getting to truly shine, but his remaining overqualified for the fit in question won't hold him back from impressing as the group's budding fixer.
Assuming that we're just discussing recent draftees in this roundup, Anthony Davis ' exemption turns this into a layup for the Wizards' young center.
Alex Sarr is the closest thing that Washington had to a Dybantsa-caliber prospect before the organization hit the jackpot in the league's lottery order reveal this offseason, and his defensive upside featured as the lynchpin to his pitch. As far away as he looked from being a consistent shooter and paint-finisher, he always had the feet, instincts and verticality to frighten opponents as one of the great problem-solving anchors in recent draft memory.
The rest of Sarr's raw game predictably scared off a few would-be investors, but he's been just as advertised as a deterrent. He's one season of positively-relevant regular season ball away from joining names like Chet Holmgren and Evan Mobley as the best defensive non-Victor Wembanyama bigs of his generation, already just as destructive cleaning up blown assignments on the perimeter as he is swatting shots as a paint-dropper and helper.
Had Sarr overcome the injury and draft-oriented factors that kept him glued to Washington's bench over the season's back half, his two blocks per game would have cleared everyone's final marks outside of Wembanyama's 3.1 average. That, combined with his 0.8 nightly steals, helped him post some impressive impact numbers despite being constantly surrounded by a defensively-lethargic supporting cast. No matter how many problems were ladled onto his plate, he never seemed to waver until his body succumbed to the regular season's demands.
Last season, he held opponents to 55.3% shooting within six feet of the rim, and that was while contesting 9.7 such attempts per game. Compare that to the low-to-mid 60% clip that most players walk out of seasons with, let alone the comparatively-higher marks that Sarr's similarly-challenged contemporaries allowed. He had to stand his ground against 17.9 field goal attempts on a nightly-basis, the fifth-highest rate of anyone in the league, and Davis is sure to ease that burden with some disruptive contributions of his own.
Oct 24, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) shoots as Washington Wizards center Alex Sarr (20) defends during the first quarter at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
He, perhaps more than anyone, will reap the rewards of the Wizards' new, more veteran-padded look. Other creators and workers will grant Sarr the bandwidth to hone his focus as a more efficient scorer and back-line defender, exactly what he needs to help lead the winning effort to come.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/wizards/onsi as Ranking the Wizards' Top Three Two-Way Prospects .
