Coaches on 2026 NBA Draft Top Picks: Dybantsa
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- AJ Dybantsa went No. 1 to the Wizards after leading the sport in scoring at 25.5 points per game at BYU, including a 33-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double against Eastern Washington in December and becoming the first freshman since Stephen Curry in 2007 to score 30-plus in his NCAA tournament debut.
- Darryn Peterson fell to No. 2 with the Jazz after a Kansas season dominated by availability questions, playing only 24 of 35 games with more than 30 minutes in just 13; he later told ESPN his debilitating full-body cramping stemmed from high creatine doses.
- Cameron Boozer landed at No. 3 with the Grizzlies off a consensus National Player of the Year campaign at Duke (22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 55.6% FG, 39.1% from three) and what coaches called arguably the most decorated high school career ever.
- Coaches were divided on the Dybantsa-Peterson debate: one Big 12 coach compared Dybantsa's prototypical oversized-wing frame to Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Kawhi Leonard, while others pointed to Peterson's January 26-point, 11-for-13 performance against Baylor in just 23 minutes as the season's most efficient individual effort.
- Coaches repeatedly dinged Peterson's playmaking at Kansas, noting he totaled just 38 assists all season on a Jayhawks team that wasn't loaded with offensive talent, while Dybantsa was praised for shouldering 39-minute nights on a depleted BYU roster.
- Caleb Wilson was selected No. 4 by the Bulls after entering the season nowhere to be found in top-prospect debates, with the article cutting off before his full scouting breakdown.
- Coaches flagged Dybantsa's perimeter inconsistency (49 threes on 33.1% shooting) as his chief weakness, with one saying, 'He's just an OK shooter,' while Boozer's main concern was finishing against length after struggling against Kansas' Flory Bidunga and UConn's Tarris Reed Jr.
Why it matters: The draft order itself isn't in question, but the coaches' framing directly shapes the rookie-year expectations for the Wizards, Jazz, and Grizzlies. Coaches framed Dybantsa as a competitiveness-and-leadership bet (the Kawhi/Tatum archetype) while Boozer was cast as the highest-floor power forward prospect in years due to his efficiency and consistency at Duke.
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