After a splendid season with the BYU Cougars, AJ Dybantsa has declared for the 2026 NBA draft, where he is projected to go first overall over the likes of Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer. However, there was a time when Dybantsa was only playing basketball for fun.
During his appearance on the “All the Smoke” show, former NBA star Matt Barnes asked him about his journey that has cultivated into his old school mindset. Dybantsa took the viewers back to his seventh grade when his New England AAU coach Joseph Saunders scolded him for not being serious enough towards basketball.
“Yeah, really my eighth-grade coach, for real, Joe Saunders,” Dybantsa said. “When I used to play basketball when I was young, I didn’t really want to play for real. I was playing for fun, didn’t really care about wins and losses.
“Got into eighth grade, COVID happened. That’s my COVID year, like seventh-, eighth-grade year. So I reclassed. He’s just on my a** like, ‘You don’t want it enough.’ And I’m just like, ‘Bro, it’s basketball.’”
Dybantsa then shared the hard reality of his parents during the pandemic. His father had to drive for one and a half hours every day to Middletown, Rhode Island so that he could continue with the basketball sessions. Even he gave Dybantsa a reality check.
“It got to the point where COVID came, gyms are shut down,” Dybantsa continued. “My dad’s driving me an hour and 30 minutes every day to Middletown, Rhode Island, and I’m from Brockton. So I’m getting my ass busted by 18-, 19-year-olds, and I’m like 13, 14. He’s like, ‘Bro, you don’t want it enough. You don’t really want to be great.’ And at that time, I’m like, ‘I don’t want to work a job. I don’t got the patience for that.’”
It was Dybantsa’s mom who wanted him to attain a college education with the help of a scholarship. That was the moment the Cougars standout knew that he needs to work hard to make his parents dream happen.
“My mom’s only goal for me, like, she loves that I’m declaring for the NBA, but her only goal was for me to go to school for free,” Dybantsa added. “So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll take it serious.’ And by that time, I started with the passion. I started screaming, yelling, flexing, and I kind of carried through.”
AJ Dybantsa Reveals His Favorite NBA Player After He Took Basketball Seriously
Taking the conversation ahead, Matt Barnes asked which players AJ Dybantsa looked up after he started taking basketball seriously. The former Cougars said it was Kevin Durant and he also mentioned some other players whom he had followed.
“My favorite player is Kevin Durant. Easy one,” Dybantsa said. “But the comp I got recently was Tracy McGrady, so I’ve been studying a lot of Tracy. But I love Paul George, Kawhi, Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Shai, Luka, and Anthony Edwards.”
Dybantsa is anticipated to do well in the NBA and there are good chances that he gets picked first overall.
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