The Washington Wizards selected AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, choosing the BYU forward over Kansas guard Darryn Peterson and Duke forward Cameron Boozer in one of the most anticipated draft classes in recent memory.
"It was super surreal," Dybantsa said the following morning on TODAY. "I was just kind of replaying all the memories in my head - all the sacrifices I made, all the practices, late nights, crying, all the blood, sweat and tears."
The road to that stage was built on more than basketball.
His mother Chelsea says the values she and Ace instilled in their children are Christian values - her grandmother raised her on the Bible, and Ace is a lifelong Catholic.
AJ was baptized as a baby, and his parents continue to encourage faith and prayer in him and his sisters to this day.
That same discipline showed up in how Dybantsa was raised. One well-known example: Ace once drove AJ six hours to a game, only to tell his son he couldn't play - because he had earned a C- in a class.
AJ has been an honor roll student ever since.
The faith thread ran through his college choice too. Dybantsa, whose parents have Catholic roots from the Congo and Jamaica, found BYU's faith-based environment genuinely appealing - picking the Cougars over North Carolina, Kansas, USC, and Auburn.
He didn't just blend in at a school sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - he leaned in.
He visited the Lindon Utah Temple with a Latter-day Saint apostle and church leaders, and spoke highly of faith-centered classes like "Mission Prep" and the Book of Mormon.
On draft night, he made one final gesture of honor. He requested that Commissioner Silver call him by his full name - not AJ, but Anicet Dybantsa Jr. - as a tribute to his father, Anicet "Ace" Dybantsa Sr., who was in the arena alongside wife Chelsea and AJ's two sisters, Samarra and Jasmyn. Anicet means undefeated.
"He's primed for it just because I think his parents have done a great job raising him," BYU coach Kevin Young said at the draft. "They've clearly prepared him for the spotlight."
"We're proud of him," Chelsea said on TODAY the morning after, "but he should be proud of himself no matter what."
For a young man who prays before he walks onto the biggest stage of his life, the journey is only beginning - and it started with the right foundation.
