NEW YORK — It’s Washington’s moment. The Wizards hold the top spot in Tuesday night’s NBA draft, and the basketball world is watching to see who they’ll choose with the No. 1 overall pick.
Three names have dominated the pre-draft conversation: AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer — all of whom impressed during their freshman years in college basketball. Dybantsa, a forward, led the entire country in scoring while playing at BYU. Peterson, a guard, showed tremendous talent at Kansas but raised some concerns after sitting out 11 games due to injuries and illness. Boozer, another forward, was named college basketball’s player of the year after his season at Duke.
The draft takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, home of the Nets — just a short distance from where the New York Knicks held their championship parade last week. The Knicks captured their first NBA title since 1973 by defeating the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, ending one of the league’s longest championship droughts.
On the eve of the draft, another major story broke when Milwaukee and Miami reached an agreement on a blockbuster trade that will send two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat — a move that could quickly reshape the Eastern Conference landscape.
Washington hopes its draft pick will eventually put the Wizards in that same conversation. The franchise hasn’t won an NBA championship since 1978, back when the team was still called the Bullets — a drought nearly as long as the one the Knicks just ended.
Dybantsa is already thinking about what hearing his name called would mean, reflecting on everything his family has given up to help him reach this point.
“Who knows, I might cry,” Dybantsa said.
