We feel your pain, AJ Dybantsa.
With this year's crop of highly-touted prospects entering the NBA Draft, many teams were in a race for the bottom this season, and we just hoped that Dybantsa would wind up at a place where winning might be a possibility. Instead, the Washington Wizards won the lottery and hold the top pick where it's likely they will select Dybantsa. While the Wizards had the worst record in the league (17-65) and were one of the three teams with the best lottery, we were all hoping for a different outcome.
AJ Dybantsa reacting to the Wizards getting the 1st pick: pic.twitter.com/JGKdPTtn6N
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 10, 2026
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this video of Dybantsa is worth about three and my guess is they are, "Somebody save me".
AJ Dybantsa's worst NBA nightmare could be coming to life
The Wizards have been a rudderless ship for most of my lifetime. They did win an NBA title when I was about two years old, but Washington also went from 1979 to 2005 without winning a single playoff series and the Wizards haven't won more than 35 games in a season since 2018.
The good news is they do have a couple of guys you've probably heard of. Trae Young is there, presumably to take as many pull-up 30-footers as his heart desires and Washington also acquired Anthony Davis, who is pretty good for the 30 games a season he'll play in between injuries.
On one hand, Dybantsa is going to be a multi-millionaire, be a pro athlete in a pretty fun city and... Washington is also in the same division with the Miami Heat, so he can already begin scouting for potential destinations as his free agency approaches in a few years.
. @KevinOConnor's Top 10 NBA mock draft has AJ Dybantsa going No. 1 to Washington 👀 pic.twitter.com/cVMsl2yZDM
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) May 10, 2026
On the other hand, Dybantsa has to hope that playing for the Wizards won't ruin his life like it has for many players that have come before him. It's a franchise that simply exists because the NBA needs to have one in the nation's capital.
It's a big win for the Wizards and a huge loss for anyone that was rooting for Dybantsa to have great success in the NBA. Now all we can hope for is a trade or a miracle.
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