Dybantsa Goes No. 1 to Wizards in Record Freshman Draft
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- AJ Dybantsa went No. 1 to the Washington Wizards after leading the nation in scoring at 25.5 ppg in his lone BYU season, highlighted by a 43-point game that broke BYU's freshman scoring record; at 6-9 and 217 lbs he has drawn Kevin Durant comparisons.
- Eight straight college freshmen were taken to begin the draft, tying the record set last year, with Morez Johnson Jr. at No. 9 the first non-freshman selected.
- The top four rounded out with Kansas guard Darryn Peterson (No. 2, Utah), college player of the year Cameron Boozer at No. 3 to Memphis after averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists at Duke, and North Carolina's Caleb Wilson at No. 4 to Chicago.
- Michigan's national champion trio was drafted across the lottery: Darius Acuff Jr. (No. 7, Sacramento), Kingston Flemings (No. 8, Atlanta) and Morez Johnson Jr. (No. 9, Dallas), with Johnson reuniting with coach Dusty May, who left the Wolverines for the Mavericks on the eve of the draft.
- Yaxel Lendeborg went No. 11 to Golden State and 7-foot-3 Aday Mara followed to Oklahoma City, putting all five Michigan championship players in the top 12.
- Milwaukee added two rookies — Arizona's Brayden Burries at No. 10 and the rights to Tennessee's Nate Ament (No. 13 originally to Miami) — as part of the agreed trade sending two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat.
- At Barclays Center, loud boos greeted the San Antonio Spurs' pick of Jayden Quaintance, while Knicks jerseys dotted the crowd after Commissioner Adam Silver opened the night by hailing the NBA champion New York Knicks and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson.
Why it matters: The Wizards, whose last two No. 1 picks (Kwame Brown in 2001, John Wall in 2010) produced sharply different results, are staking their rebuild on a Durant-compared hometown freshman, while Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo trade closed one MVP era and restocked the roster with two lottery rookies in the same night.
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