Washington Wizards introduce AJ Dybantsa

Before we open it up for questions, I just had one really for AJ. The last 48 hours we've seen a lot of content. We've seen a lot of people reacting to you being the first overall pick, but the one thing that kind of just stood out to me was draft night, your high, your elementary school, the Davis school, to see those kids with the t-shirts on with your face on it and when the commissioner said your name, their reaction. My question to you is did you see the video? And then if you did, what did you instantly think when you saw the reaction of those youngsters? Yeah, I seen the video. It was just super crazy. Obviously, that's the first school I went to. Obviously, if y'all seen that first grade little book I had, I said I wanted to be a basketball player. That's what that was written, but it was great. I mean seeing their reactions. I just want to be a role model for them. I'm not everybody's gonna make it to the NBA, but I want to be a role model and the fact that they could see someone from Brockton do something big, it does give them a lot of light and hope, so I just want to be that role model for them. Excellent. We want to open it up for the media to ask questions. We just remind you if you just please state your name and your affiliation when you ask your questions. Mr. Josh Robbins from The Athletic. What has stuck out to you about the reception you've received from fans, from the organization over the last 24 hours, and what are you looking forward to learning about the city and region of Washington? It's been great. Yeah, I had a wild 48 hours. I mean, I got calls from teammates on draft night. I got in yesterday. I got in yesterday. I met the whole staff. I went to the war room. It was great. I went to Capital One. There was like, I don't know how many people, like 150 people just saying my name. I met the mascot. It was ridiculous, but I mean, I'm just excited to meet everybody. I'm excited to meet the fan base. Hi, AJ over here. Chase Hughes from Monumental Sports Network. Welcome to DC. You have a great line, which is, I fill seats. And I'm curious, like, how long has that been the case? When did you start noticing, like, the crowds were changing and people were kind of becoming drawn to you? I kind of noticed in eighth grade. I reclassed and I did eighth grade twice and I played varsity as an eighth grader, which is super rare. And for the first time in school history, they, like, added, like, the yellow tape for more seats in our gym. And I was like, OK, like, this is kind of crazy. Like, you're not supposed to be selling tickets at a regular high school and they're over here selling tickets, like, for outside commission. And it was kind of crazy. Then, you know, what I really realized was last year when I played at TD Garden, just coming back home, playing in Boston. And I looked up and all the suites were filled and everything. I was like, this is kind of crazy, like, to be able to fill out your homeroom. Christy Winter Scott, Monumental Sports Network. AJ, you have said that you compare a lot of your skill set to Len Bias. What specifically do you see in your game that reminds you of Len Bias in that way? As a Maryland alum over here, I'm intrigued by that. Yeah, he got to his middie and I take huge pride in getting to my middie. I think it's a great shot for me. I've seen getting into the NBA. There's a lot of footers now. There's a lot of shot blockers now. So, to be able to get to that middie and just raise up at 6'9", I think is very helpful for me. So, I started watching this film, like, probably a couple of months ago. Just pulled up on TikTok and I just seen him. I was like, I don't know who this is. They say he's going to be better than Michael Jordan. I don't know. But, you know, I started watching this film and I could see him get into his middie a lot. Good morning, AJ. Corita Parks, Double Take Sports. How are you? I'm good. How about you? Good, good. Some of this came up in your introduction, but at the draft combine, you wore a suit and you talked about approaching the process. Like, it was your first job interview. You're very active on LinkedIn and you already have a foundation. Where did that business and professional mindset come from for you and why is that so important at a young age? Yeah, it came from my parents. Definitely. I never worked a job. The closest was probably McDonald's for two hours. After being a McDonald's All-American, I had to work at McDonald's for two hours. But, you know, going to the combine, it was like a job. My dad was like, this is your first job interview. So, we decided to dress up. I went to a suit and tie in every single interview. Media availability, I was in a suit and tie. So, I just wanted to feel like a real job. I think that combine, it was a pretty fun first introduction just to learn the maturity that he brings. He came in and we wanted just to be a get to know you type environment. We want to make sure that you're comfortable in the event we bring you into D.C. So, we allow opportunities to ask questions. And sometimes you get the standard questions from guys. We didn't get that from AJ. He's just curious and mature and asked some really deep questions. And it allowed us to get to know him on a different level. So, he walks in the door with that level of maturity. And Marshall Kramski, WUSA 9. This is both for AJ and Will. You talk about building and building together. Now that AJ's here, I know it's been a crazy 48 hours. What's the next step towards building where you want to be? I think getting him a jersey number, taking some time, getting him in the gym and working out. But for us, we went on this journey trying to find like-minded individuals and people and finding guys who care about basketball and who are passionate and are team players, and he has that. And that's kind of how he's going to lead and put his imprint on the organization. But I think he's starting to learn his group of guys. I think there's a lot of characteristics that are 94 by 50 that we look for. And he brings that with size, versatility, dual impact, being able to play on both ends. So, we want to get the group together, continue to learn each other, and really just get more and more of a competitive environment. I think that's important for us right now. Yeah, just like what you said, just learning the guys, getting with the guys, and getting to know them as a group of people. And it's getting it live. I mean, once you get in the gym with everybody, you kind of know like their strengths and weaknesses and where everybody want to be. And, you know, some of these come up and get it on. AJ, David Aldridge with The Athletic. Wondered to know, when was the last time you were humbled on a basketball court? And what did you learn from being humbled? Last time I was humbled on a basketball court was my last game. I lost my last game playing against Texas. We were the higher seed. We were sixth seed. They were eleventh. You know, we came in a game, we wanted to win that game. And, you know, they pulled up the upset. So, I was kind of humbled. Just like, you know, you can't just take everything for granted. You got to play super hard. And what I learned from it, just watching a lot of film, what I needed to do better. What leadership skills I should have added in that game to, you know, try to get my guards up higher. AJ, Ben Schroepfer with the Locked On Wizards podcast. You've been one to embrace a challenge throughout your life. This Wizards organization for a long time has failed to sustain success. You're being brought here to help be part of this puzzle of this rebuild that's been ongoing for the last couple years. What about that challenge intrigues you the most? A little bit of everything. I mean, like you said, I've been trying to embrace the challenge my whole life. Nothing comes easy. But I want to be a piece of the puzzle that, you know, is part of the rebuild. I'm obviously a Wizards fan. I've been waiting for a long time. So, you know, we're trying to make the playoffs. Trying to make it far in the playoffs. Like when first thing Will said, he just said, you don't want to just make the playoffs. You want to go far in the playoffs. And I really, I really felt that. So I just want to be a piece of the puzzle. Obviously, probably need a couple more pieces, couple more practices, maybe a few more years. But, you know, if they trust the process, we can get it far. I think when you're evaluating someone like him, you get to see him at different places. Whether he's at Utah Prep, Prolific, playing with Team USA, or part of the Cougars, he plays different roles and isn't willing to embrace those roles. And the versatility and the mindset and the team first approach on that, I think allows him to be a connector. And that's what we felt we really needed. With or without the ball. AJ, over here. Scott Abraham, ABC 7. Welcome to Washington. Along those same lines, you've been number one basically your entire life. You've said it multiple times. And being the number one overall pick comes with some high expectations. How do you process, how do you handle the expectations that are going to be on you if you join the Wizards? I just be myself. When you be yourself, it kind of just comes easy to you. You don't got to figure for nobody. Just, you know, play the right way. Play to win. And everything should just come and fall into place. Hey, AJ. Brian Albin, Wizards Radio Network. You talked about first grade. You had that paper. You said you wanted to be a basketball player. Even before that. Yeah, you want to see it? You want to see it? It's a real story. Yeah. You got the picture in the favorites? You got the picture in hers? Yeah, Sean Mattrick. We'll look at it after. Even before you wrote that down, AJ, what are your earliest memories of just falling in love with the game of basketball? What drew you to the game? Was it watching players? Was it just dribbling a ball? What brought you to the game? Yeah, I mean, my dad always said that he forced me to play basketball. I was about five years old, so I don't know what I wanted to do in life. But he bought me a Spider-Man hoop that went on the back of my door. He went to K-Mart and bought it. It was by accident he bought it, which he always tells me. But I loved Spider-Man growing up. So I just started shooting for my bed. Started shooting for my bed. It was this miniature ball. Then I started playing the YMCA League. Brought to community basketball. Then ended up falling in love with the game. So Spider-Man is the reason why I love basketball. AJ, Chase Hughes over here again to your left. You said at the Combine that the Wizards played a compilation video of charity work during your interview. I don't know how many interviews you did. How unique was that to your experience? It was super special. Obviously, I'm already tied to the community. Anywhere I go, that's my new home. I always try to tap in. So Brock in Boston, I always try to do charity givebacks. If that's a backpack giveaway, if that's giving Nike shoes to different basketball teams. When I went to Provo, that was my new home for a year, still is. So I did a whole bunch of stuff there. And then for them to come and just give a charity type of video, it's like, I mean, why wouldn't I be here? Why wouldn't they take me? Because I just kind of fit the culture. Yeah, I think being in the community and being active isn't a chore. It's an opportunity. It's a blessing for us to be able to do that. It's a core value of ours for a reason. And it's really important to Michael and I, Ted and the entire organization, to not just talk about it, to be about it. So for us, it's a core value. It's what we're about. And they're the people that drive us and support us. And we've all been very fortunate and blessed to be able to kind of live the lives we live through basketball. But we also know it's bigger than that. And we've been impacted by athletes growing up in Massachusetts and the Boston area that kind of you look up to and you shape. And they spend a little time or they offer a little something to help you feel good about it. And you remember that. And we want to touch as many people in the city as we can because that's what we're about. It's bigger than basketball here in D.C. AJ, Corita Parks again. In a similar vein to the community question, could you tell us more about your foundation? What's the mission? And what inspired you to get started? Yeah, so we're super big on education, me and my family. My mom wanted me to stay in school and graduate. I am going to graduate. I did talk to my academic advisor at BYU, so I'm going to finish my school online. But, you know, education's super important. Like, my family's more proud of me going to BYU, just for them not to pay for college, for me to get a full scholarship. That's super important to them. And we just wanted to give back. So my mom's from Jamaica. My dad's from Congo. We're going to start off just sending 20 kids from there to different universities. If that's in universities in the continent of Africa, if that's different universities in Jamaica, if that's universities in the States, we're going to try that. But after those 20, we're just going to expand all around the world. We just want to help kids all around the world. Could I ask why you chose to announce at that school that you did back then? Because I know your foundation was a part of that, too, in the background. Yeah, so I announced at the – I mean, the Davis School is where I wrote I wanted to be an NBA player. So my first grade teacher was there. Everybody was there. So that's kind of just like the foundation where I started basketball, using that gym. So I felt only right to go back and announce there. That's cool. AJ, back here. Brandon Stoner with PGC-TV and Let's Talk Sports. We're talking about the community. I'm blessed to be around a lot of young folks that have a lot of positivity to them, but they're in environments that sometimes may not be as positive. For those youngins to get to where you are right now, what are some notes, some tips, some goals that you can share with them to stay on the right path and not fall on the weak side? Yeah, just goal setting is super important. So, like I said, when I was in first grade, I set a goal that I wanted to be in the NBA, and it just kept me motivated. So now I have more goals to set when I'm in the NBA to keep me motivated. But goal setting, just discipline. I mean, discipline was set early in my household with my parents. So listening to my parents is super big for me. Just hard work is an easy one, but not everybody does it. But hard work truly does pay off. And those are probably like the three points I'll say. Okay, I was being a good team. I was passing it to Christy. No, that's okay. Heather McDonough, NBC4. Welcome to Washington. We talked a lot about your foundation and a lot about your play on the court. I know there's a lot of things that are important to you. How do you balance, at such a young age, all of those responsibilities? At the end of the day, knowing that people want to see good results on the court. But, again, you do have all these other responsibilities as well. First things first, just keep the main thing the main thing. Like, even when I was in Paris in my draft suit doing business over there, I would start my day with a workout. So just keeping the main thing the main thing. So every day I just got to work out. If it's a lift, if it's recovery, getting a massage, getting shots up, getting a real workout in. I mean, I got to keep the main thing the main thing. Obviously, I have business obligations I got to do, foundation I got to do, but I just got to get my workouts in. How easy or hard is that? No, it's definitely hard. I mean, just being 19 and having to travel all across the world and do all these things is definitely hard. But, you know, basketball is kind of my piece. And if I can work out, I'm all good. Christy Winterscott, Monumental Sports Network. What advice have you learned most from John Wall in his experience of being a number one draft pick here to the district? But also, the other night at the draft party, he said that the community piece was something that he really leaned into. Outside of basketball, what things has he gotten into your ear about? Yeah, so I was there yesterday at the Mystics game and I spoke to him and that's what he was talking about, just the community aspect of it. Like really tapping into the community, which I was planning on doing. They love you here. They already love you. Obviously, I've seen a video of them at the anthem. Just screaming and hollering. So he definitely told me to tap into the community, which I was planning on doing. We're good. Oh, sorry. AJ, is there a particular player or particular team that you are most looking forward to competing against? Probably, well, player, my favorite player has always been Kevin Durant. So just me sharing a corner with him would probably be ridiculous. But going back home and playing at TD Garden, that would be crazy just watching all those games there since Kevin Garnett was there. So, being a fan since Jason Tatum and Jay LeBron won the championship, I'll probably be super sure. Appreciate everyone's questions. And now, you're going to like this. It's the jersey presentation. Will is going to take a photo with AJ. And then afterwards, we'll ask. There is a number. Do you want to tell them what number you chose and why? Yeah, so I chose number four. This new beginning, so obviously me coming to D.C., just wanted to grab a new number. So, previously won number three, but I was the number one pick. Wanted to add those up, and we got four. Good math. Once again, AJ Devonza, the number one overall pick for your Washington Wizards. Wes, we'll send it over to you.