AJ Dybantsa scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 24 minutes as the Washington Wizards defeated the Sacramento Kings 104-85 on Sunday to improve to 2-0 in NBA summer league in Las Vegas, in what may have been the top overall pick’s last summer league appearance.
Teams routinely shut down high lottery picks after two games as a precautionary measure, making Sunday likely the end of Dybantsa’s summer league run. In two games he averaged 25 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks, giving the Washington organization an encouraging baseline of data heading toward their first regular season with him at the center of their rebuild.
Defensive ambition as a defining statement
Dybantsa came to Las Vegas with a specific agenda beyond scoring. He acknowledged that his defensive effort in college had been inconsistent and characterized that inconsistency as a product of laziness rather than ability, a candid self-assessment from a player who clearly holds himself to standards that go beyond what was asked of him at BYU.
The two summer league games gave him an opportunity to begin demonstrating a different approach. Against the Kings he recorded three steals and two blocks, including a moment in the second quarter where he picked up a Sacramento ball-handler past halfcourt and forced a turnover before making another play on the ensuing possession. He also guarded the Kings’ seven-foot-one center at one point during the game, demonstrating the versatility his 7-foot wingspan enables on that end of the floor.
He said he has told his trainers he believes he can develop into a first-team All-Defensive player, framing it as an aspiration he is actively working toward rather than an idle claim. The Wizards, who are building toward playoff contention around a young core supported by experienced veterans, have an organizational interest in Dybantsa becoming the kind of two-way player that framing suggests.
What the two games showed about his current state
Dybantsa’s shooting in Las Vegas was limited, finishing the two games at 39 percent from the field and a combined 9 percent from three-point range, well below what he produced at BYU. He was open about the physical context for those numbers. His last competitive game before summer league had been in the NCAA tournament in March, a four-month gap that he described as affecting his legs and his conditioning.
He said the games served as testing grounds for adjusting to the pace of professional basketball, learning his teammates and the team’s system, and getting used to the physicality of a level above what he faced in college. He also acknowledged fatigue as a factor in Sunday’s performance, noting the Las Vegas heat and his effort to stay hydrated in conditions that wore on him across 24 minutes of active defensive and offensive work.
Other Wizards standouts and the broader picture
Dybantsa was not the only young player to make an impression for Washington in the summer league. Second-year guard Will Riley scored 32 points in Sunday’s win, providing another encouraging data point for an organization that has assembled a young core they believe can compete for a playoff berth in the coming season with the guidance of veterans at key positions.
The summer league coach described Dybantsa’s second game with the kind of measured enthusiasm appropriate for a player who visibly tired but still finished with 23 points. The stat line reflected what a talent-first evaluation suggests about him: even when running lower on energy in an unfamiliar competitive environment after months away from game action, he produces at a level that reinforces why he was the consensus top pick.
