The Washington Wizards selected forward AJ Dybantsa, who led the nation in scoring in his one season at BYU, with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft on Tuesday night, the AP reports. Dybantsa averaged 25.5 points, highlighted by a 43-point effort that broke BYU's freshman scoring record. He was the first of eight straight college freshman taken to begin the draft. At 6-foot-9 and 217 pounds, Dybantsa has drawn comparisons to Kevin Durant, who happens to be his favorite player. Durant grew up in the Washington area, and Wizards fans can only hope Dybantsa can live up to the comparisons.
They certainly hope he will be better than center Kwame Brown, the pick Washington made in 2001, the first time it had the No. 1 selection after the NBA changed draft formats to eliminate territorial picks in 1966. The Wizards took John Wall in 2010 the other time, and he did turn into an All-Star. Dybantsa beat out fellow freshman Darryn Peterson of Kansas, who was taken at the No. 2 pick by Utah. While some thought Peterson had the most talent in the class, the guard missed 11 games during the season because of injuries and illness, potentially creating some questions that Dybantsa didn't have.
Cameron Boozer, the college player of the year in his one season at Duke, was taken at No. 3 by Memphis. Caleb Wilson, another freshman forward from rival North Carolina, went to Chicago with the next pick. Those players were the expected top four throughout the pre-draft process, though there was certainly a case for Peterson to go first with his promise. Or for Boozer, with his body of work after he put up 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game for Duke, where his father, Carlos, also played before becoming a two-time NBA All-Star. The uncertainty was expected to begin at No. 5. The Los Angeles Clippers acquired the rights to it after a trade with the Indiana Pacers and used it on Illinois guard Keaton Wagler.
The host Brooklyn Nets then went with Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. Darius Acuff Jr. to Sacramento at No. 7 and Kingston Flemings to Atlanta at No. 8 continued the run of scoring guards before Dallas went back to the bigs—and created a reunion in the process—by taking Morez Johnson Jr. from Michigan. Johnson's former teammates went quickly: The Golden State Warriors took Yaxel Lendenborg with the No. 11 pick and the Oklahoma City Thunder followed by going for the 7-3 Aday Mara. The Milwaukee Bucks, who are losing two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, picked up two rookies. They took Arizona guard Brayden Burries with the No. 10 pick and are acquiring the rights to Tennessee forward Nate Ament, who was taken at No. 13 by Miami but is part of the package the Heat are sending to Milwaukee in the trade for Antetokounmpo that was agreed to Monday.
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