Washington held the No. 1 pick entering draft night for the first time since 2010, and this latest mock from Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley has the Wizards doing what most scouts expect: taking BYU wing AJ Dybantsa and betting on him to become the franchise cornerstone they’ve been unable to develop through the rebuild.

The Wizards hold just the one pick on their books — their own No. 1 overall selection. Washington sent away everything on the perimeter during three straight lottery-caliber seasons, and what emerged is a mix of intriguing young talent and veteran additions in Trae Young and Anthony Davis that desperately needs a capstone piece. That capstone, across nearly every scouting community, is Dybantsa.

Dybantsa stands 6-foot-9 with a rare combination of physical tools and scoring instincts that have drawn comparisons to franchise forwards across multiple eras. At BYU, he proved capable of manufacturing buckets at all three levels: getting to the rim with power or finesse, operating effectively in the midrange pull-up game, and showing flashes of a three-point shot that, if it reaches reliability, makes him unguardable. His point-forward potential has been referenced often by league evaluators tracking him since his high school days.

ESPN’s Jeremy Woo relayed recently that “there’s still uncertainty around which direction Washington will go,” suggesting the Wizards have done due diligence on the other top-tier prospects in this class. Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson have all been connected to mock draft discussions at the top, but Washington’s front office appears to be building toward a long wing archetype that Dybantsa fits precisely.

The opportunity cost here is real. Passing on Peterson — a fluid, 6-foot-6 guard from Kansas with elite shot-making and a 6-foot-10 wingspan — would mean choosing upside over polish. Peterson is arguably the most refined scorer in this class, a left-handed initiator with the body control to create looks from anywhere on the floor and the defensive profile to be impactful immediately. Washington would also be passing on Cameron Boozer, the Duke product who might be the most NBA-ready player in this draft class, a skilled, high-IQ power forward with post footwork and perimeter shooting that project as plus at the next level.

Across the outlet landscape, the consensus around Washington is nearly unanimous. CBS Sports’ Adam Finkelstein, Gary Parrish, and Isaac Trotter all have Dybantsa going first, as does Tankathon’s latest projection. The lone dissenter is CBS Sports’ Cameron Salerno, who flips the top two picks and projects Peterson to Washington instead — an outcome driven by a mock trade scenario that has Utah moving up.

Outlet	Projected Player
Bleacher Report	AJ Dybantsa
CBS Sports	AJ Dybantsa
Tankathon	AJ Dybantsa
Yahoo Sports	AJ Dybantsa

The Washington front office, led by president Michael Winger, has acknowledged publicly that trading down is something it would consider. That transparency is worth noting — most front offices holding the top pick stay quiet about potential alternatives. Yet the frequency with which Dybantsa’s name appears at No. 1 in projections suggests his value at that spot is well understood by the league, meaning trade offers to move down would require the incoming team to dramatically overpay to make Washington interested in stepping aside.

Young and Davis both represent competitive windows that don’t wait. Young, a restricted free agent after last season, averaged north of 25 points and 10 assists during his time in Atlanta and brings a floor-stretching, offense-creating dimension that makes Washington’s new core genuinely functional. Davis, even with his history of injuries, is a two-way anchor who can dominate possessions on both ends when healthy. What they lack is a third pillar — someone who can handle defensive attention when the other two are neutralized.

Dybantsa’s defensive versatility is another reason he profiles as the selection. At 6-foot-9 with legitimate length and lateral agility, he can guard multiple positions, a quality that matters enormously in the modern NBA where switchable, long defenders anchor rotations. His defensive playmaking — disrupting passing lanes and altering shots without overhelping — has improved throughout his pre-draft process.

Washington has earned the right to be patient with this pick. Three years of bottoming out, trading veterans, and accumulating top-five talent means the 2026 draft is not just an event but a culmination. Adding Dybantsa alongside Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Alex Sarr, and the established vets in Young and Davis would give this franchise a genuine argument for contention within two seasons — a timeline that makes the patience of the rebuild worth every lost game.