We are two games into the AJ Dybantsa show in Washington, D.C., and it already looks as advertised.
Most No. 1 picks are immediately expected to carry the load of an entire franchise en route to very few wins in their rookie season, but that won't be the case for Dybantsa. Yes, he is the Wizards' future, but he doesn't have all the pressure on him immediately, which will help his long-term development.
The Wizards sit at 3-3 right now; not great, but not bad. Why is this significant? The Wizards haven't reached three wins before December since 2023. Not November, December. Dybantsa looked great in his two games, but it's certainly helping that he has one of the best big men in the league, Anthony Davis, alongside him to make things easier.
Playing with Anthony Davis can teach AJ Dybantsa good habits
When you think of a spot that No. 1 picks usually go to, Darius Acuff's current situation with the Sacramento Kings usually comes to mind. Yes, Acuff was the No. 7 pick, but purely situation-based, he's allowed to take every shot, and the offense runs entirely through him, which can sometimes lead to bad habits being formed.
That isn't going to happen with Dybantsa. Davis is an All-Star and All-NBA-caliber player. He's been an NBA champion, and he was nominated as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history. He knows how to win, and the Wizards haven't done a lot of winning in recent history.
There will be times when Dybantsa goes through lapses defensively, or when he's not engaged in rebounding (like in his debut game, where he had two rebounds). In a lot of No. 1 pick situations, that would be excused because the team isn't playing for anything, and Dybantsa would already be looked at as the best player on the team.
Davis is in his mid-30s. He wants a max contract extension, but he also wants to be on a winning team. This Wizards team has the components to be one of the sleeper teams in the Eastern Conference, and it will start with Davis helping Dybantsa grow.
AJ Dybantsa is in an incredibly unique and valuable situation
Playing winning basketball at a young age does wonders for development. Look at Anthony Edwards on the Minnesota Timberwolves. He's ascended to a top-six-or-so player in the NBA, and a lot of that is because he was in the playoffs in his second season as a No. 1 pick.
He had great playoff-tested veterans to help lead the charge, like Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Patrick Beverley. Dybantsa is in a very similar situation. Dybantsa has Davis as his veteran, along with others like Trae Young, Khris Middleton, and Deandre Ayton, and that's a luxury that so few young players have.
He gets to learn from the best of the best every day, and as the Wizards' season goes on, he'll get the privilege of playing in more meaningful games than some of his counterparts.
Add us as a preferred source on Google