CHICAGO — AJ Dybantsa walked into his NBA Draft Combine media interview in a gray plaid suit, dark blue dress shirt and a tie with notes of blue, dressed for what he said felt less like a basketball event than his first job interview. He then made the pitch that has been building around him for months: he wants to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
"I had interviews this morning with different teams, and I mean, I never had a job before," Dybantsa said Wednesday. "This is like my first job interview." He added that his father pushed him to dress professionally: "So my dad’s kind of like, ‘You know, this is your job interview. So come professional, come in a suit.’"
Dybantsa said he had conversations by noon Wednesday with the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies, Chicago Bulls, LA Clippers, Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks. He also backed up the confidence that has made him the presumptive top name in the class, saying he jumped 42 inches in the max vertical leap test at the combine, the fourth-highest score. The 20-minute question-and-answer session gave teams a chance to see more than the numbers.
"I’m super versatile as a player," he said. "I think I can guard one through four, play one through four." He said he can handle some point-guard duties, too. "I think that I can play a little bit of combo guard if you need me to," Dybantsa said. "I can be that jumbo wing if you need me to." Then he went even simpler. "I play the game the right way," he said. "So I try to play to win, try to make my teammates better."
That kind of line matters because the Wizards won the draft lottery and own the No. 1 pick, with the Jazz at No. 2, the Grizzlies at No. 3 and the Bulls at No. 4. Dybantsa is widely described as the presumptive No. 1 choice, but Wednesday showed how carefully he is treating the process. He is not speaking as if the draft order already belongs to him.
He also knows the conversation around him is bigger than one workout metric. "But I’m super exciting as a player, super explosive," he said. "I fill seats." That is the kind of confidence front offices either embrace or decide to test against other options, and this class has several. Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson are the main competition for the top slot.
Peterson said Wednesday he had interviewed with approximately 10 teams, including the Wizards, Jazz and Grizzlies. He said he can fit anywhere because he can play both on and off the ball. "I think I can fit with any team just because I think I can play both off and on the ball and help my team wherever I go," Peterson said. He also said he would not cross a team off his list if it views him only as a two-guard, noting he is already familiar with that role from playing at Kansas.
Wilson’s case looks different because of what he has had to overcome. A pair of hand injuries limited him to 24 games at North Carolina, leaving teams with less game tape and more projection to work through as they compare him with Peterson and Dybantsa.
The central tension in this race is not whether Dybantsa belongs in the top tier. It is whether the teams at the top of the board decide his blend of size, power and self-belief is enough to make the choice on draft night. For now, he is talking like a player who expects the answer to be yes.
