The Washington Wizards own the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and a combine survey of 13 executives, scouts and front-office officials points to AJ Dybantsa as the name most decision-makers would circle first. Ten of the 13 respondents named the player they think Washington should take, and Dybantsa led the way with seven votes.
That kind of split would be unusual in a year with a consensus star, but this draft does not appear to have one. The Athletic’s survey, conducted during the NBA Draft Combine, found Darryn Peterson second with two votes and Cameron Boozer with one, while several respondents also said they can picture Caleb Wilson developing into the best player in the class.
One opposing-team front-office official called it “What a great (expletive) problem to have,” and that may be the cleanest read on Washington’s position. The Wizards are not choosing between a sure thing and a long shot. They are choosing among four prospects front offices have separated from the rest of the field: Boozer, Dybantsa, Peterson and Wilson.
That separation matters because the Wizards’ pick comes in a draft that evaluators do not describe the same way they did the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery, when the San Antonio Spurs won the top spot and took Victor Wembanyama, or last year’s lottery, when the Dallas Mavericks landed Cooper Flagg. Washington’s call is more open-ended. One respondent said Dybantsa’s upside and floor make him the safest pick in the draft, while another boiled the choice down even further: “Take AJ and sleep like a baby,” followed by “Don’t complicate it.”
Peterson’s case is harder to separate from the season he just played. He missed portions of his one-and-done year at Kansas because of a hamstring injury and cramping problems, and he has said the cramps were caused by high doses of creatine. That history has not knocked him out of the top tier, but it has helped make the debate around him less tidy than the one around Dybantsa.
The broader view from front offices is that Washington’s decision is not about finding a franchise player somewhere deep in the board. It is about choosing which one of a small group of elite prospects best fits the franchise’s timeline and appetite for risk. Dybantsa has emerged as the front-runner in that conversation, and unless the pre-draft picture changes, the Wizards’ choice at No. 1 looks more like a decision tree than a mystery.
