Washington used the first overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft on BYU forward AJ Dybantsa, then signed him to a standard rookie-scale contract worth $69M over four years with a team option in year three. Dybantsa spent one season in Provo after signing a $4.2M NIL package in 2025, the largest single-year collegiate deal disclosed at the time. The Wizards have not held the first pick since 2010, when they selected John Wall.
Dybantsa averaged 24.1 points and 8.3 rebounds across 31 games for BYU, shooting 47% from three on 6.2 attempts per game. He declared for the draft in March, four weeks before the NCAA tournament, citing "professional readiness" in a short Instagram post. His agent, Bill Duffy of BDA Sports, had already scheduled combine meetings with 14 teams by the time the declaration window closed. Washington's front office, rebuilt around president Michael Winger since 2023, had been positioning for a top-three pick since trading Bradley Beal to Phoenix in June 2023 for three unprotected firsts and two swaps. The Dybantsa pick converts that teardown into a named cornerstone.
The $4.2M NIL figure reshapes the draft-prep calculus for top high school recruits. Dybantsa's BYU deal included $2.1M in cash from a Utah-based real estate consortium, $1.6M in apparel and trading-card partnerships, and $500K in deferred payments tied to jersey sales. BYU's athletic department did not facilitate the deal directly but provided infrastructure support through its Edge NIL collective, which has raised $18M since forming in late 2023. The school's honor code—strict curfews, no alcohol, no premarital cohabitation—was considered a recruiting barrier until Dybantsa's commitment proved otherwise. His one-year presence generated $3.8M in incremental ticket revenue and pushed BYU's basketball program into 11th nationally in merchandise sales, per Fanatics data shared with sponsors in April.
Washington's ownership group, led by Ted Leonsis and Monumental Sports, has committed $800M to a new arena in Alexandria, Virginia, with groundbreaking scheduled for Q1 2027. The Dybantsa signing gives the franchise a marquee name to sell luxury suites and founding partnerships against. Monumental's sponsorship deck, circulated in May, listed Dybantsa by name in projections for local TV ratings and social-media reach, assuming the pick would land in Washington's lap after the lottery results in April. Early conversations with regional brands—Nestle, Volkswagen's U.S. arm, Marriott—have already referenced Dybantsa's NIL track record as proof of engagement with younger demographics.
The rookie-scale contract structure is non-negotiable under the CBA, but Dybantsa's camp negotiated a $12M shoe deal with Nike before the draft, the largest endorsement for a player without NBA games since Zion Williamson in 2019. The deal includes a signature line launching in fall 2027, contingent on all-star voting or all-rookie first-team honors. Duffy also closed a trading-card exclusivity agreement with Panini worth $4M over three years, paid in quarterly installments starting in July. These deals, combined with the rookie salary, put Dybantsa's first-year earnings near $22M before taxes, more than any Wizards player except Jordan Poole.
BYU has three five-star recruits committed for the 2027 class, all represented by agencies that worked the Dybantsa NIL deal. The school's athletic director, Tom Holmoe, told boosters in a June call that basketball NIL commitments for next season are "already above $6M," per a recording obtained by the Provo Herald. The Honor Code remains unchanged, but the administration has quietly adjusted its policies on player travel and summer training to allow more commercial flexibility. One athletic department staffer described it as "Latter-day Saints pragmatism."
Washington's roster now includes Dybantsa, Poole, Bilal Coulibaly, and $31M in cap space for 2027. The front office has interviewed four head coach candidates since firing Wes Unseld Jr. in May, with a decision expected by the start of Summer League in July. Dybantsa's introductory press conference is scheduled for June 30 at Capital One Arena, with Leonsis and Winger both confirmed to attend. Nike is sending a design team to measure Dybantsa for his first signature colorway the same week.
The takeaway
Dybantsa's **$4.2M** college year and **$69M** rookie deal prove NIL can build NBA-ready brands; BYU is now a one-and-done destination.
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