Draft NBA Draft 2026 (Prospect) - A.J. Dybantsa killing in BYU. Previously wanted Spurs to draft him in 2026

[spursparker9]

Seen some news that AJ is killing it in college. He has previously (Jan 2025) expressed desire to play with Wemby. Can we make some under table deal to get him?

Spurs can be more overpowered than GSW + KD

Prep star Dybantsa hopes to play with Wemby

A.J. Dybantsa, the potential No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft, told ESPN he hopes to play alongside Victor Wembanyama for the Spurs.

www.espn.com

Dybantsa, who committed to BYU in December, traveled to Paris this week for the NBA's Global Games and to get an up-close look at Wembanyama, telling ESPN he would like the Spurs to draft him next year so they can pair up.

 

[Exstatic]

Only if the NBA cooperates, and gives us a second #1 pick in 4 years, and a 4th straight top 4 pick.

 

[spursparker9]

I think this is the first time that top prospect openly declared that he want to come to the Spurs

Now we know Wemby always wanted to come to the Spurs but he never show it during pre-draft

 

[spursparker9]

Only if the NBA cooperates, and gives us a second #1 pick in 4 years, and a 4th straight top 4 pick.

By some miracle, I hope Hawks crash and burn and we use the pick swap to get a lottery pick and let Silver do the magic like he did for Nico Harrison

 

[Kick-Stand]

Atlanta's not missing the playoffs with Boston, Indiana, and Miami out of the way, so unless you're hoping for a fourth straight tank year no Dybantsa here unless they trade Harper or maybe Castle and picks for him.

 

[spursparker9]

Tbh now that NBA is becoming so business orientated.

Sometime I do wonder if Silver rigged the Wemby lottery for the Spurs. Because the other bottom tier teams with the best odds were trash and perhaps Silver is afraid that Wemby would be wasted there.

The other bottom tier teams being the cursed franchise like Charlotte, Portland,

 

[Arguendo]

Only if the NBA cooperates, and gives us a second #1 pick in 4 years, and a 4th straight top 4 pick.

Fox to the Lakers at deadline for contracts might get it done hahahaha.
Think Fox/Sochan/Biyombo for Rui/Vincent/Kleber/Knecht would be very close to working salary wise. NBA agrees to somehow give us #1 like they did with Dallas!

 

[Ice009]

Spurs wouldn't have any chance to draft him unless they make a big trade. Very cool that he wants to play for the Spurs with Victor.

Question : How good is this kid? If he was in this past draft, would he have gone number 1 over Cooper, number 2?

 

[ird80]

Have him skip draft, drop out college, sign off streets

 

[MacNeacail]

Spurs wouldn't have any chance to draft him unless they make a big trade. Very cool that he wants to play for the Spurs with Victor.

Question : How good is this kid? If he was in this past draft, would he have gone number 1 over Cooper?

Early on, Flagg and Cameron Boozer were in the same draft class. They were considered the same tier prospect. Then Flagg re-classified to graduate high school early since his birthday would just barely allow him in this past draft.

I don't know how the 2026 Draft class is doing since then, but Boozer and Dybantsa are both in the same Tier (along with Darryn Peterson)

 

[wemvp]

Spurs wouldn't have any chance to draft him unless they make a big trade. Very cool that he wants to play for the Spurs with Victor.

Question : How good is this kid? If he was in this past draft, would he have gone number 1 over Cooper, number 2?

#3

 

[Neuromancer]

All we have to do is trade Wemby to the Lakers and bam, Silver will gift us the #1 pick

 

[blueguy]

Tbh now that NBA is becoming so business orientated.

Sometime I do wonder if Silver rigged the Wemby lottery for the Spurs. Because the other bottom tier teams with the best odds were trash and perhaps Silver is afraid that Wemby would be wasted there.

The other bottom tier teams being the cursed franchise like Charlotte, Portland,

You can watch the numbers being drawn in the actual lottery on YouTube. I suppose it's not impossible to fake it, but it is practically. I can't even imagine how it would physically be done, let alone getting other people on board to cheat. As much as people like to think there are "reasons" why the Spurs or Mavs won, it's basically dumb luck.

 

[Guru of Nothing]

Spurs 2026/27 starting roster for the playoffs: Wemby, Fox, Castle, Harper, & Peterson.

 

[wemvp]

You can watch the numbers being drawn in the actual lottery on YouTube. I suppose it's not impossible to fake it, but it is practically. I can't even imagine how it would physically be done, let alone getting other people on board to cheat. As much as people like to think there are "reasons" why the Spurs or Mavs won, it's basically dumb luck.

If you weighted the balls of the team you want to win. It's not fool proof, but it would greatly increase the chances of that team getting the first pick.

There would need to be 3rd party impartial oversight handling every aspect of the process and recording it. Weighing each ball individually before going in. Checking for magnets or other anomalies. Could even live stream the process so people can watch in real time.

If there is no 3rd party oversight the league could have the #1 pick team's ball preloaded into the chute so when filming starts for the lottery it will be the first one released.

The US government is a pile of corruption, so how much of a reach is it to think sports leagues are too?

 

[Exstatic]

Atlanta's not missing the playoffs with Boston, Indiana, and Miami out of the way, so unless you're hoping for a fourth straight tank year no Dybantsa here unless they trade Harper or maybe Castle and picks for him.

None of those three teams is out of playoff contention in the LEastern conference. Miami beat ATL last year in the playin after losing Butler.

I think ATL may be in a world of hurt if Trae isn’t happy, and he currently isn’t. He just needs to slow roll his play to drop them deep into the lottery. Other than his usual pile of turnovers, he played really well last year, and they still lost in the play in.

 

[Exstatic]

If you weighted the balls of the team you want to win. It's not fool proof, but it would greatly increase the chances of that team getting the first pick.

There would need to be 3rd party impartial oversight handling every aspect of the process and recording it. Weighing each ball individually before going in. Checking for magnets or other anomalies. Could even live stream the process so people can watch in real time.

If there is no 3rd party oversight the league could have the #1 pick team's ball preloaded into the chute so when filming starts for the lottery it will be the first one released.

The US government is a pile of corruption, so how much of a reach is it to think sports leagues are too?

The thing is, it’s not one ball, it’s a four number combination, and even if you got it right, that combo would pop out over and over while trying to draw the top 4 lottery positions, and the team reps would know something was up. There is a third party, too, one of the big accounting firms.

 

[Kick-Stand]

None of those three teams is out of playoff contention in the LEastern conference. Miami beat ATL last year in the playin after losing Butler.

I think ATL may be in a world of hurt if Trae isn’t happy, and he currently isn’t. He just needs to slow roll his play to drop them deep into the lottery. Other than his usual pile of turnovers, he played really well last year, and they still lost in the play in.

Atlanta is better after this summer and Boston is horrific in the frontcourt.

 

[blueguy]

If you weighted the balls of the team you want to win. It's not fool proof, but it would greatly increase the chances of that team getting the first pick.

There would need to be 3rd party impartial oversight handling every aspect of the process and recording it. Weighing each ball individually before going in. Checking for magnets or other anomalies. Could even live stream the process so people can watch in real time.

If there is no 3rd party oversight the league could have the #1 pick team's ball preloaded into the chute so when filming starts for the lottery it will be the first one released.

The US government is a pile of corruption, so how much of a reach is it to think sports leagues are too?

Fair enough. I don't think we're talking about corruption (obviously, with the Clippers thing, I think that's likely the tip of the iceberg). I think it's more conspiracy.

ofc, I am not an expert on weighted balls or how that would work, but like most conspiracy theories, there are so many people that would need to know....how long will they keep silent? If the balls are weighted, they still have to be pulled in a particular order (which still might favor a particular team(s) but would still introduce random elements).

It would actually be cool to see if a YouTuber could make it happen and what it would take.

 

[scott]

I misread the Maui Invitational schedule and thought BYU was in it this year and I'd have a chance to see AJ live. Alas, BYU is in NEXT YEAR's tournament. No scouting report from me this year.

 

[Ice009]

You can watch the numbers being drawn in the actual lottery on YouTube. I suppose it's not impossible to fake it, but it is practically. I can't even imagine how it would physically be done, let alone getting other people on board to cheat. As much as people like to think there are "reasons" why the Spurs or Mavs won, it's basically dumb luck.

I mean, I thought it was rigged because of who won (I shouldn't really complain at all). Before the draft, I would have been ecstatic with the Spurs getting into the top 4, but then during the draft, when the Spurs got into the top 4 I was super happy, but when it went down to the last two (I got my hopes up), I was certain the Spurs won the lottery because I kept thinking that Dallas had a 1.8% chance and I think the Spurs had a 6% chance (can't remember the exact numbers), so I thought it was ours. I was shocked when the Spurs were announced as the number 2 pick.

It just felt rigged because Dallas traded away Luka and then they get the number 1 pick with a 1.8% chance or whatever it was? How is that possible? I know it's a lottery, but for it to happen the year Luka was traded and after all the backlash Dallas got. Yeah, I don't know about that.

 

[spursparker9]

I mean, I thought it was rigged because of who won (I shouldn't really complain at all). Before the draft, I would have been ecstatic with the Spurs getting into the top 4, but then during the draft, when the Spurs got into the top 4 I was super happy, but when it went down to the last two (I got my hopes up), I was certain the Spurs won the lottery because I kept thinking that Dallas had a 1.8% chance and I think the Spurs had a 6% chance (can't remember the exact numbers), so I thought it was ours. I was shocked when the Spurs were announced as the number 2 pick.

It just felt rigged because Dallas traded away Luka and then they get the number 1 pick with a 1.8% chance or whatever it was? How is that possible? I know it's a lottery, but for it to happen the year Luka was traded and after all the backlash Dallas got. Yeah, I don't know about that.

tbh I also felt it was rigged by Silver to let Dallas get the no. 1 pick due to the Luka Trade.

On the other hands, I recall that Dallas was very close not to get into the lottery pick. They were in the play-in and if Kyrie was not injured, maybe they could have enter the playoffs with no lottery pick and that would totally eliminate their chance for Silver to rig Flagg to them.

But I can also imagine if Spurs get the no. 1 pick and drafted Flagg, there would for surely be voices that also accuse Silver rigging the pick for Spurs to 'help' Wemby get more success faster so that he can be unanimously be recognised as face of the league and help boost earnings for the league

 

[scott]

tbh I also felt it was rigged by Silver to let Dallas get the no. 1 pick due to the Luka Trade.

On the other hands, I recall that Dallas was very close not to get into the lottery pick. They were in the play-in and if Kyrie was not injured, maybe they could have enter the playoffs with no lottery pick and that would totally eliminate their chance for Silver to rig Flagg to them.

But I can also imagine if Spurs get the no. 1 pick and drafted Flagg, there would for surely be voices that also accuse Silver rigging the pick for Spurs to 'help' Wemby get more success faster so that he can be unanimously be recognised as face of the league and help boost earnings for the league

We were actually pretty close to getting the #1 and #2 pick... can you imagine the conspiracy theories then?!?

 

[Ariel]

We were actually pretty close to getting the #1 and #2 pick... can you imagine the conspiracy theories then?!?

IIRC at the last ball we were 3/11 of getting no. 1 (2 were from Atlanta and 1 from the Spurs), we have no idea how no. 2 would have gone if we'd gotten no. 1 (in the real lottery they draw in ascending order, not descending as per the tv show which is ex post facto)

 

[scott]

IIRC at the last ball we were 3/11 of getting no. 1 (2 were from Atlanta and 1 from the Spurs), we have no idea how no. 2 would have gone if we'd gotten no. 1 (in the real lottery they draw in ascending order, not descending as per the tv show which is ex post facto)

Yep, I knew it was something like that. Do they put the balls back in after each round? Hard to say if landing that 3/11 would have changed the outcome of pick #2.