These days, AJ Dybantsa doesn’t really notice the festivities.
Back in eighth grade, when he was first blossoming into a basketball phenomenon, St. Sebastian School had to buy yellow tape. The Needham, Massachusetts, all-boys Catholic institution with about 380 students had a gym comparable to those at most small high schools. Rarely did the fourth row of bleachers even need to get extended.
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Then Dybantsa showed up. Thirty-four points in his fourth game, amid rumors he could be one of the best basketball prospects in state history, were enough to draw crowds that required the gym’s baselines to get taped off to make space for more standing-room-only sections.
Back then, when hordes of kids his age asked for his autograph, endorsement deals rained and Alicia Keys started following him on Instagram, he couldn’t put on blinders.
“It [was] definitely hard,” Dybantsa said during his introductory news conference with the Washington Wizards on Thursday, two days after his selection with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
But he has learned to find comfort in being a spectacle.
Dybantsa arrives in D.C. as the Wizards’ most anticipated addition since at least John Wall, possibly Chris Webber. With that comes a type of attention that might dissolve a 19-year-old who, in the span of 48 hours, became the face of an NBA franchise. Yet Dybantsa seems fit for the task, smiling through TV interview after handshake after jersey promo — he’s going to wear No. 4, he declared — atop a penthouse in the Wharf.
“Nothing comes easy, but I want to be a piece of the puzzle that is part of the rebuild,” he said. “Probably need a couple more pieces, a couple more practices, maybe a few more years, but [I] trust the process.”
His past few days have been an unending sprint of public appearances. Once he made it through three hours of draft-night interviews Tuesday in New York, he was on a flight to D.C. Wednesday morning. Between a jersey signing and his first team meeting, he stopped by the Wizards’ war room to thank each member for selecting him. Then he made his way to the team’s business offices and introduced himself in every cubicle. Next, it was back to taking pictures with young fans around town.
“He walks in the door with that level of maturity,” Wizards General Manager Will Dawkins said. “That’s kind of how he’s going to lead and put his input on the organization.”
Dybantsa’s physical abilities — the scoring prowess and guard-like fluidity in a frame that now measures 6-foot-9 — are what made him a top NBA prospect. Dawkins didn’t shy away from those attributes while sitting beside Dybantsa for the first time Thursday. The Wizards hope to rapidly get Dybantsa comfortable with his new teammates, and he immediately slots as their starting small forward — or even a jumbo two-guard, depending on whether Washington wants Tre Johnson or Kyshawn George beside him.
But Dawkins’s front office homed in on Dybantsa when they began scouting him four years ago because of the “human first.” Since then, they said, he has only continued to grow, making clear he was the best fit for a franchise seeking redefinition.
After traveling to Paris to buy the navy suit he wanted to wear to the draft, Dybantsa ended up wearing it to all his meetings with teams, including the Wizards.
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“My dad was like, ‘This is your first job interview.’ So we decided to dress up,” he said. He wore it again for his first day of work on Thursday.
“His work ethic, his passion, his character,” Dawkins said, moments after Dybantsa mentioned that he is still going to earn his degree at BYU online. “He gets it. He’s been building toward this.”
Dybantsa spoke of a note he wrote in first grade saying he would become a professional basketball player. Since then, each step has been an opportunity for growth, he continued. He was asked whether, given how dreamlike his last few years have been, he thought he had accomplished what he set out to.
With little hesitation, he ranted about losing his most recent game — a first-round NCAA tournament matchup with Texas.
“You can’t just take everything for granted,” Dybantsa said. “I needed to do better. [I looked at] what leadership skills I should have added in my game.”
Dawkins smiled through it all.
Following the news conference, Dybantsa made his way to another fan event, this time further down the Wharf. Wednesday, it was an appearance at a Mystics game, where he met Wall. Friday, it will be another public outing.
What he means to the Wizards fan base — and, if he can get its attention, the Washington community — is hard to overstate. If everything were to follow Dawkins’s vision, Dybantsa would be the reason the Wizards transform into a winner. With that comes pressure.
“I’m just keeping the main thing the main thing,” he said, repeating that mantra regularly throughout the morning.
“I know it hasn’t been the easiest the last three years,” Dawkins added. “This is a basketball city, and they’ve been waiting for a day like this.”
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Dybantsa smiled as his boss gushed. This time, he’s taking it all in.
