2026 NBA Draft potential No. 1 decide reshaping NIL, basketball: Meet AJ Dybantsa

BROCKTON, Mass. — The primary time AJ Dybantsa acquired paid for basketball, he didn’t need the cash.

When the nation’s prime recruit was named Massachusetts Gatorade Participant of the Yr as a highschool freshman, it got here with a money prize: $1,000. That was some huge cash for a 14-year-old who insists he didn’t even get good at basketball till a 12 months earlier than.

For an adolescent, that may go towards video video games, sneakers and even his future. However Dybantsa didn’t need it for himself. As a substitute, he considered Brazzaville.

He first visited his father Ace’s hometown, the capital of Congo, when he was 4. Ace and his spouse, Chelsea, used the journey to present their son perspective on their life again in Brockton and the significance of giving again to the neighborhood.

So, when the Gatorade examine arrived, Dybantsa didn’t know what to do with it. Holding it didn’t really feel proper.

“Do it in your coronary heart,” Ace informed his son. “Don’t take the cash. That can come later.”

Ever since then, the 17-year-old Dybantsa has performed issues in another way.

“Don’t take something as a right,” Dybantsa informed The Athletic not too long ago. “Persons are much less lucky and don’t have what now we have. If I proceed this route, I’m going to get much more cash than that. So, I would as nicely simply donate (that examine) again to the neighborhood.”

Identify, picture and likeness (NIL) rights have remodeled American novice sports activities, and Dybantsa has been Poseidon driving this monetary wave. He was the third male basketball participant to signal a sneaker cope with Nike whereas nonetheless taking part in in highschool after which grew to become the most recent face of Pink Bull quickly thereafter. Dybantsa rose towards the highest of his class at St. Sebastian’s, a Boston-area college, after which grew to become the most popular teenage free agent within the sport when he signed profitable offers with Prolific Prep (Calif.) as a junior after which Utah Prep as a senior.

Ace had a plan for his youngsters, AJ, Jasmyn and Samarra, earlier than they have been even born, getting a job as a police officer at Boston College so they might get free tuition. However after they turned out to be promising athletes, their plans modified.

“AJ, when he was in sixth grade, he stated, ‘Dad, I’m not going to BU,’ ” Ace recalled with fun. “I stated, ‘God dammit!’ ”

AJ anticipated to make use of nearly all of this season to check all his faculty choices and decide earlier than March Insanity. He had blue bloods Kansas and North Carolina in his ultimate 4, however Alabama and BYU have been proper there with them. Then, simply earlier than Thanksgiving, Dybantsa informed his mother and father it was time. He was able to commit after catching a BYU sport in individual Nov. 16.

Dybantsa will seemingly arrive in Provo, Utah, because the presumptive No. 1 decide within the 2026 NBA Draft, unequivocally the largest star in faculty basketball for a 12 months.

“He’s what the NBA is searching for,” stated a NBA front-office government, who was granted anonymity so they might communicate freely. “Wings with official measurement that perceive the sport, can create offense after which, in principle, can guard a number of guys.”

When Dybantsa donated the Gatorade examine to the native Boys & Ladies Membership as a highschool freshman, he presumed that cash coming later could be as soon as he shook NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s hand on draft evening. However NIL exploded in a single day, and Dybantsa was the star of the bidding warfare that has outlined this new period of faculty basketball.

The irony was he had no thought how a lot he was making. Ace’s job was to deal with the enterprise facet; AJ’s job was books and ball.

“Individuals simply gonna speak, however I (didn’t) even know the way a lot I’m getting. They only inform my dad all of that,” Dybantsa stated. “I’m making an attempt to make it to the NBA, so wherever they’ll get me the quickest there with one of the best improvement, there’s an entire lot of pillars that include it. Cash’s going to return if I do the work, so I’m not anxious in regards to the cash in a 12 months.”

‘Ain’t no Plan B’

At some point early in Dybantsa’s junior season, he was towering over a gaggle of elementary college college students whereas visiting a category in his hometown. The kids are in awe of this gigantic child who isn’t that a lot older than them.

Most of them don’t precisely know who he’s, however they know he’s any person. Dybantsa was once the one wanting as much as folks, however now they appear as much as him.

“It’s a superb feeling. Basketball was funner when there was nothing happening after we have been all 10 years previous,” Dybantsa stated. “No person acquired talent, all people’s the identical. It was far more enjoyable. However now folks choose you for who you might be. The identical individuals who hate on you’re the identical folks within the stands making an attempt to ask for an image. The sport’s nonetheless enjoyable, but it surely’s completely different now.”

As soon as he’s strolling again to his dad’s automobile, the dynamic shifts again to regular. Ace tells AJ he must go dwelling, do his homework and make some lunch. He has to scrub his room, even when he solely visits for a couple of days a month.

“I inform AJ on a regular basis, you could be No. 1 within the nation, however in my home, you ain’t No. 1,” Ace says with a giant smile. “When the coach yells at him, I say, ‘AJ, I like you, don’t I?’ He says, ‘Sure, you do.’ When the coach yells at you, he loves you. He desires you to right what you’re doing incorrect.”

Ace’s favourite tales to recall are of all of the occasions he referred to as his son’s coaches and informed them to “bench his ass” as a result of AJ didn’t uphold his mother and father’ lofty requirements. In sixth grade, AJ didn’t make the honour roll. Ace informed the coach they have been driving to New Jersey for a match, however his son was not taking part in in both of their video games.

“The coach checked out me and stated, ‘You’re actually gonna drive six hours?’ ” Ace stated. “I informed him, ‘You heard what I stated.’ ”

Once they arrived on the health club, Dybantsa went to heat up simply as he at all times does, however then his coach approached and whispered one thing in his ear. Dybantsa spent the sport watching from the sideline. However for the second sport, the coach determined the punishment was sufficient.

Lesson realized, no less than by his commonplace. However not Ace’s.

“So, on the drive dwelling, I (informed AJ), ‘Subsequent time, I gained’t even hassle bringing you to the match,’ ” Ace stated. “Ever since then, honor roll.”

The youthful Dybantsa brings up the phrase “sugarcoating” usually. He’s criticized by his dad daily, so criticism from his coaches and the general public doesn’t section him.

“For those who get sugarcoated your complete life, you ain’t ever gonna get higher,” Dybantsa stated. “(My dad) being powerful on me and my sisters has impacted us in a approach. Everyone desires one thing handed to them, however we all know life will not be gonna work like that.”

He has an aversion to sweets now. Inform him like it’s, and he can work with that. Ask anybody who has been round Dybantsa about what makes him particular, and it’ll take some time earlier than you hear about his sport.

“AJ is the whole bundle on and off the ground,” stated Ryan Bernardi, his coach at Prolific Prep. “He’s extraordinarily respectful, he’s charismatic, nice character. … I imagine these traits have been instilled in him by his mother and father.”

Passing at all times got here naturally to Dybantsa, as he claims that he’s simply now studying methods to be a real scorer. Bernardi and Ace have been always on him for not being aggressive sufficient in pursuing his shot whereas at Prolific. The youthful Dybantsa at all times maintains the very last thing he desires is to be often known as a ball hog.

“My mindset won’t ever be simply scoring. I’m at all times going to cross,” Dybantsa stated. “There’s by no means going to be a sport the place I’ve zero assists. I like ensuring that everyone eats.”

What makes Dybantsa such a tantalizing prospect is that he’s already such a whole participant, a former middle turned playmaking wing. His mix of steadiness, IQ, talent and explosiveness make him one of the promising gamers to enter faculty this century. Dybantsa was measured throughout his September go to to Kansas at 6-foot-8 1/2 in socks with a 7-1 wingspan, in response to Ace. His peak is up half an inch from the start of the 12 months.

He’s a gazelle attacking the rim and might pull up over anybody from each spot on the ground, levitating to a peak the place contests are merely ideas that luck ought to intervene on the protection’s behalf. Dybantsa’s passing reads out of pick-and-rolls are a few of the finest at his place. He’s a brick wall on protection, flipping his hips to steer drivers extra easily than gamers half his measurement. There’s a lot room for enchancment, however the holes in his sport are measured at a molecular stage.

When Boston-area talent coach Brandon Ball first began shaping Dybantsa’s sport, most of his pupils labored out twice a day throughout the summer time. However Dybantsa, then 14, was completely different. It reminded Ball of his star shopper Terrence Clarke, who was one of many prime gamers within the nation on the time, earlier than dying in a automobile accident.

Dybantsa would arrive on the health club at 6 a.m., and they’d work on constructing his talent set. He would raise weights at 9 a.m. after which return to the health club to work on his jumper at midday. He would have a sport at 6 p.m., which must be the tip of it. However no, another exercise on the ground postgame.

“Most children can’t do thrice a day, however he has nice physique language at each single cease,” Ball stated. “He understood the mission early, and Terrence was the identical approach. The child’s work ethic is completely different.”

Most children that age have lives exterior the health club. Not Dybantsa. He proudly claims he doesn’t do something exterior of ball and college. Ask him what his hobbies are, they’re basketball and basketball. There’s a cause BYU’s extra buttoned-up campus tradition wasn’t a deterrent for him.

There’s a commonality to most gamers who maximize their careers within the NBA. They have been those who have been getting in further work whereas their friends have been taking part in video video games or going to the flicks. They have been taught one thing on the courtroom as soon as after which can do it an hour later as in the event that they’ve identified it their complete life.

As Dybantsa grew and shortly grew to become the most effective gamers within the nation, it cemented his unwavering perception that basketball was going to be his future, not that anybody who knew him was questioning it at that time.

“My life motto is ‘Ain’t no Plan B. I plan who I’m presupposed to be,’ ” Dybantsa stated. “Individuals at all times ask me if I’ve a Plan B. Nah, I don’t.”

Prince of the NIL revolution

A 12 months in the past, Dybantsa had by no means heard of Utah Prep. Few folks had.

It’s a reclamation undertaking of a defunct college that relocated to Hurricane, Utah, however it’s not pronounced hurricane. Ask an area to elucidate its Scouse roots so that you can perceive.

Shortly after becoming a member of a star-studded roster at Prolific Prep, an Adidas college, Dybantsa signed a cope with Nike that ends earlier than his faculty profession begins. Now that NIL has made each highschool offseason a free-agency interval, Prolific knew there was a superb likelihood Dybantsa was heading off to a Nike program for his senior 12 months. Enter Utah Prep.

“For everybody concerned, this was a primary of its type,” Bernardi stated. “A brand new precedent had been set, and we’re all making an attempt to determine it out because it goes. I feel the mindset of ‘What’s your supply’ has been the largest change and it’s a must to make faster choices.”

BYU donors facilitated an April go to to the college for Ace and Chelsea earlier than they took a visit right down to Provo to see the faculty’s campus. That was after they first met incoming BYU coach Kevin Younger, who was then the highest assistant for the Phoenix Suns however traveled out of Arizona in the course of a playoff sequence to host the go to.

Utah Prep reportedly supplied Ace $600,000 and an possession stake within the fledgling program, in response to the Salt Lake Tribune. Accomplished deal. AJ visited, noticed the mountains within the distance and signed up for the transfer. There was nothing else to do there, which is simply how he appreciated it.

When Dybantsa was requested why he didn’t attend one of many iconic highschool applications like Montverde Academy in Florida — which reportedly supplied $1 million for AJ’s senior season — he defined how he needed to do issues in another way.

“Montverde, we are able to use them for instance, I’m making an attempt to indicate folks you don’t must go to a college like that to perform sure issues,” AJ stated. “They’re a terrific college, they usually’ve acquired probably the most league guys from highschool. So, there’s no knock going there. However you don’t have to go to a college like that.”

Nearly each main NBA agent recruited AJ, however Ace determined to proceed to handle his profession whereas bringing on Shaquille O’Neal’s former agent, Leonard Armato, as an adviser.

Ace negotiates affords, goes to Armato for his enter, involves AJ for his choice, and a selection is then made. Businesses have been capitalizing on the NIL gold rush however usually cost charges upwards of 20 %, considerably greater than their lower on NBA contracts. Ace has turn into a grasp schmooze and thrives on this new gig.

Reviews have pegged Dybantsa’s NIL bundle to be value round $7 million, although folks with information of the negotiations stated the quantity coming straight from BYU’s NIL collective is nearer to $5 million. Within the early levels of the NIL period, there’s some ambiguity as to what defines an precise cope with the college.

The NCAA doesn’t straight regulate NIL because the market has been formed by courtroom choices over the previous a number of years. The proposed Home v. NCAA settlement in October has cleared the way in which for a revenue-sharing mannequin from the faculties to the gamers that would go into impact as quickly as July 2025. However the gamers are usually not staff and there’s no union, so there is no such thing as a collective bargaining to determine an agreed-upon system.

Dybantsa’s function within the recruitment was to get the solutions he wanted for his profession. He requested coaches for his or her imaginative and prescient of constructing an offense via him and the way he would deliver successful to their crew. He didn’t simply need to know the way the top coach operates, however what his restoration and dietary program would seem like. He desires to be a professional earlier than he’s technically a professional.

The decision that sealed the deal was from Kevin Durant, who performed for Younger in Phoenix. All Dybantsa needed was to emulate Durant’s path to greatness, so he was offered on Younger being his information.

“You don’t need to simply signal with any person. You need to be companions with them,” Dybantsa stated. “There’s much more to a suggestion than simply cash. Individuals solely see the cash a part of it, but it surely’s not nearly cash.”

Within the late levels of his recruitment, AJ and Younger have been talking straight whereas Ace was dealing with negotiations with the faculties. Ultimately, Alabama and North Carolina matched BYU’s supply, unbeknownst to AJ.

Even when Dybantsa first knowledgeable his father in late November he was able to decide to BYU, Ace saved the concentrate on basketball and didn’t reveal the worth tag. Ace informed his son to suppose it over whereas the elder Dybantsa paid one final go to to UNC.

When Ace returned, AJ was absolutely locked in on BYU. They referred to as the college and signed the paperwork earlier than Ace lastly informed AJ how a lot the NIL market decided he was value.

AJ’s response?

“Wow.”

‘I’m not gonna change’

At Dybantsa’s video games, the baseline below the opposing crew’s basket is lined shoulder to shoulder with each younger photographer and videographer making an attempt to interrupt into the massive leagues, identical to him. When the groups swap baskets at halftime, there’s a mad rush of swinging tripods to get one of the best spot on the opposite facet of the health club.

The times of strolling the streets in solitude are coming to an finish. He’s already turning into immediately recognizable.

“(He’s) making an attempt to navigate being the primary character and understanding how a lot folks look as much as him and can observe him,” Bernardi stated. “I feel his constant vocal presence shall be a giant key for him as he turns into a terrific chief.”

When he returned to Boston for a sport together with his new college, Utah Prep, each set of eyes is rigorously careening his approach. His aura captures the entire enviornment now. Apart from the blinged-out chain round his neck, he nonetheless carries himself like no one is watching.

“I’m not gonna change. They could,” Dybantsa stated. “There are some folks I do know that turn into well-known and alter their complete character. They need to have this lavish life-style, however I simply stick with who I’m, and I feel folks mess with that.”

Dybantsa plans to return to Boston in January to see household, they usually’ve already scheduled a shoe giveaway to an area highschool. He by no means comes dwelling empty-handed.

He’ll return as one of many highest-paid novice basketball gamers in American historical past. Ace has been operating the present whereas his son focuses on basketball and being a child. Finally, AJ can construct his empire as he climbs the ladder to NBA stardom.

Attending to the massive stage isn’t the onerous half. Separating your self is. Ace is aware of he gained’t have a lot luck telling a nationally famend faculty coach to bench his son as a result of he didn’t get again on protection. These days are over.

That’s why AJ joined a program the place he’ll be handled the identical approach since he was little. Ace has no selection however to present it a break and belief his son is prepared, so long as AJ nonetheless cleans his room when he comes dwelling. Some issues may by no means change.

“He’s most likely going to right me, however he’s not going to be yelling at me,” AJ stated. “Properly … he may.”

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; prime images: Barry Chin / The Boston Globe by way of Getty Photos; Jim Poorten, Altan Gocher, Hans Lucas, Ezra Shaw / Getty Photos)