Dybantsa has 'highest upside' of draft prospects
Jay Croucher and Drew Dinsick break down the odds for who will go No. 1 in the 2026 NBA Draft, with BYU's AJ Dybantsa the overwhelming favorite to go first overall to the Washington Wizards.
Video Transcript
Okay, NBA season is over, but there are still things to bet on to do with the NBA, namely the number one overall pick market, which will be of much intrigue now, and AJ Debanser is the clear favorite at minus 400.
Darren Peterson thinks he's going number one, but he is plus 300.
Camboo's at 18 to one.
Do you have any read on this market, Drew?
I think now's probably a little bit of a discount on AJ to go first at minus 400.
I really don't think this was ever in doubt from the moment the lottery balls landed where they did.
and I think that kind of the histrionics of Peterson in the last, 48 hours to me is more indicative of his team is trying to do what Ace Bailey's team failed to do last year and negotiate him away from a, a, a less preferred destination.
that is to say, I think Peterson doesn't really wanna play in Utah.
He probably doesn't wanna play in Memphis, and is hoping that this can either send him to Chicago or kind of, you know, kind of in, just begin the steps of a reordering of those picks in the top four.
I don't think it's gonna work.
I think he's gonna end up being drafted by Utah.
But, to me, this wasn't as much of a sign of, "Hey, I am really committed to the Wizards.
You should give me a second look," and it's much more of a, you know, "Well, okay, well, now we need to-- We know he's not going to Washington.
We now need to engineer him to a more preferred destination than Utah or Memphis."
And so, I think that all s- all the tea leaves to me look like AJ is clearly the pick.
he has by far the highest upside of any of these players, in my opinion, with his physical skill set.
and I think in general, it's gonna be an interesting fit with the pieces that they have in Washington in terms of, creating a pretty quickly competitive team, on, you know, what was such a, you know, kind of a sad display of basketball we saw last year in Washington.
So, AJ for me at minus 400, I think this is the lowest it gets, and I would, be fine buying at this price.
