Jackson has been writing about sports for the Deseret News since 2023.
AJ Dybantsa just continued his encouraging introduction to the NBA.
In his second Summer League appearance Sunday in Las Vegas, the No. 1 overall draft pick scored 23 points with seven rebounds in a 104-85 Washington Wizards victory over the Sacramento Kings.
His 23-point outing comes after scoring 27 points Thursday against the Jazz, giving Dybantsa a 25 points per game scoring average in the Summer League — just a hair shy of his national-best 25.5 points per game mark at BYU this past season.
While his scoring has been certainly impressive, it was Dybantsa’s defense that most stood out Sunday against the Kings. He recorded two blocks and three steals without committing a single foul, displaying consistently laudable effort on the defensive end of the floor.
Dybantsa scored 17 of his 23 points in 14 first half minutes, slowing down a bit after halftime but returning to his typical form down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
He shot a collective 6 for 15 from the floor (4 of 8 in the first half), making 5 of 6 free throws and dishing out a pair of assists.
After failing to make a single 3-pointer on Thursday, Dybantsa shot just 1 of 6 from long distance on Sunday, as his 3-point shooting remains an area needing improvement before his rookie campaign begins in October.
But deep shooting aside, Dybantsa’s college strengths of getting to his spots, earning free throw opportunities and weaving through traffic to pressure the rim have all translated at the Summer League level and should offer optimism for his offensive potential in the NBA.
Dybantsa was +18 in 24 minutes for the Wizards on Sunday, and is now averaging 25.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and shooting 40% from the field in two Summer League contests.
