BROCKTON, Mass. — The primary time AJ Dybantsa bought paid for basketball, he didn’t need the cash.
When the nation’s high recruit was named Massachusetts Gatorade Participant of the Yr as a highschool freshman, it got here with a money prize: $1,000. That was some huge cash for a 14-year-old who insists he didn’t even get good at basketball till a yr earlier than.
For a youngster, that may go towards video video games, sneakers and even his future. However Dybantsa didn’t need it for himself. As a substitute, he thought of Brazzaville.
He first visited his father Ace’s hometown, the capital of Congo, when he was 4. Ace and his spouse, Chelsea, used the journey to offer their son perspective on their life again in Brockton and the significance of giving again to the group.
So, when the Gatorade test arrived, Dybantsa didn’t know what to do with it. Maintaining it didn’t really feel proper.
“Do it to your coronary heart,” Ace advised his son. “Don’t take the cash. That can come later.”
Ever since then, the 17-year-old Dybantsa has finished issues otherwise.
“Don’t take something as a right,” Dybantsa advised The Athletic not too long ago. “Persons are much less lucky and don’t have what now we have. If I proceed this route, I’m going to get much more cash than that. So, I would as effectively simply donate (that test) again to the group.”
Identify, picture and likeness (NIL) rights have remodeled American novice sports activities, and Dybantsa has been Poseidon driving this monetary wave. He was the third male basketball participant to signal a sneaker take care of Nike whereas nonetheless enjoying in highschool after which turned the most recent face of Crimson Bull quickly thereafter. Dybantsa rose towards the highest of his class at St. Sebastian’s, a Boston-area faculty, after which turned the most popular teenage free agent within the sport when he signed profitable offers with Prolific Prep (Calif.) as a junior after which Utah Prep as a senior.
Ace had a plan for his children, AJ, Jasmyn and Samarra, earlier than they had been even born, getting a job as a police officer at Boston College so they may get free tuition. However after they turned out to be promising athletes, their plans modified.
“AJ, when he was in sixth grade, he stated, ‘Dad, I’m not going to BU,’ ” Ace recalled with amusing. “I stated, ‘God dammit!’ ”
AJ anticipated to make use of nearly all of this season to check all his school choices and decide earlier than March Insanity. He had blue bloods Kansas and North Carolina in his last 4, however Alabama and BYU had been proper there with them. Then, simply earlier than Thanksgiving, Dybantsa advised his mother and father it was time. He was able to commit after catching a BYU sport in particular person Nov. 16.
Dybantsa will probably arrive in Provo, Utah, because the presumptive No. 1 decide within the 2026 NBA Draft, unequivocally the largest star in school basketball for a yr.
“He’s what the NBA is searching for,” stated a NBA front-office govt, who was granted anonymity so they may communicate freely. “Wings with reputable dimension that perceive the sport, can create offense after which, in concept, can guard a number of guys.”
When Dybantsa donated the Gatorade test to the native Boys & Women Membership as a highschool freshman, he presumed that cash coming later can be as soon as he shook NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s hand on draft evening. However NIL exploded in a single day, and Dybantsa was the star of the bidding warfare that has outlined this new period of school basketball.
AJ Dybantsa meets a younger fan at a faculty in his hometown of Brockton, MA. (Jared Weiss / The Athletic)
The irony was he had no thought how a lot he was making. Ace’s job was to deal with the enterprise facet; AJ’s job was books and ball.
“Individuals simply gonna speak, however I (didn’t) even understand how a lot I’m getting. They only inform my dad all of that,” Dybantsa stated. “I’m attempting to make it to the NBA, so wherever they will get me the quickest there with one of the best improvement, there’s a complete lot of pillars that include it. Cash’s going to come back if I do the work, so I’m not nervous concerning the cash in a yr.”
‘Ain’t no Plan B’
Someday early in Dybantsa’s junior season, he was towering over a gaggle of elementary faculty college students whereas visiting a category in his hometown. The kids are in awe of this gigantic child who isn’t that a lot older than them.
Most of them don’t precisely know who he’s, however they know he’s any individual. Dybantsa was the one wanting as much as individuals, however now they give the impression of being as much as him.
“It’s a very good feeling. Basketball was funner when there was nothing occurring after we had been all 10 years outdated,” Dybantsa stated. “No one bought talent, everyone’s the identical. It was far more enjoyable. However now individuals choose you for who you’re. The identical individuals who hate on you’re the identical individuals within the stands attempting to ask for an image. The sport’s nonetheless enjoyable, however it’s totally different now.”
As soon as he’s strolling again to his dad’s automotive, the dynamic shifts again to regular. Ace tells AJ he must go house, do his homework and make some lunch. He has to wash his room, even when he solely visits for a number of days a month.
“I inform AJ on a regular basis, you might be No. 1 within the nation, however in my home, you ain’t No. 1,” Ace says with an enormous smile. “When the coach yells at him, I say, ‘AJ, I really like you, don’t I?’ He says, ‘Sure, you do.’ When the coach yells at you, he loves you. He needs you to appropriate what you’re doing incorrect.”
Ace’s favourite tales to recall are of all of the occasions he known as his son’s coaches and advised them to “bench his ass” as a result of AJ didn’t uphold his mother and father’ lofty requirements. In sixth grade, AJ didn’t make the honour roll. Ace advised the coach they had been driving to New Jersey for a match, however his son was not enjoying in both of their video games.
“The coach checked out me and stated, ‘You’re actually gonna drive six hours?’ ” Ace stated. “I advised him, ‘You heard what I stated.’ ”
Once they arrived on the fitness center, Dybantsa went to heat up simply as he all the time does, however then his coach approached and whispered one thing in his ear. Dybantsa spent the sport watching from the sideline. However for the second sport, the coach determined the punishment was sufficient.
Lesson discovered, not less than by his customary. However not Ace’s.
“So, on the drive house, I (advised AJ), ‘Subsequent time, I gained’t even hassle bringing you to the match,’ ” Ace stated. “Ever since then, honor roll.”
AJ (left) and Ace Dybantsa (proper) collectively in January 2024. (Jared Weiss / The Athletic)
The youthful Dybantsa brings up the phrase “sugarcoating” usually. He’s criticized by his dad every single day, so criticism from his coaches and the general public doesn’t part him.
“In the event you get sugarcoated your entire life, you ain’t ever gonna get higher,” Dybantsa stated. “(My dad) being robust on me and my sisters has impacted us in a manner. All people needs one thing handed to them, however we all know life is just not gonna work like that.”
He has an aversion to sweets now. Inform him like it’s, and he can work with that. Ask anybody who has been round Dybantsa about what makes him particular, and it’ll take some time earlier than you hear about his sport.
“AJ is the entire bundle on and off the ground,” stated Ryan Bernardi, his coach at Prolific Prep. “He’s extraordinarily respectful, he’s charismatic, nice character. … I consider these traits had been instilled in him by his mother and father.”
Passing all the time got here naturally to Dybantsa, as he claims that he’s simply now studying find out how to be a real scorer. Bernardi and Ace had been consistently on him for not being aggressive sufficient in pursuing his shot whereas at Prolific. The youthful Dybantsa all the time maintains the very last thing he needs is to be often known as a ball hog.
“My mindset won’t ever be simply scoring. I’m all the time going to go,” Dybantsa stated. “There’s by no means going to be a sport the place I’ve zero assists. I like ensuring that everyone eats.”
What makes Dybantsa such a tantalizing prospect is that he’s already such an entire participant, a former middle turned playmaking wing. His mix of steadiness, IQ, talent and explosiveness make him one of the vital promising gamers to enter school this century. Dybantsa was measured throughout his September go to to Kansas at 6-foot-8 1/2 in socks with a 7-1 wingspan, in keeping with Ace. His top is up half an inch from the start of the yr.
He’s a gazelle attacking the rim and may pull up over anybody from each spot on the ground, levitating to a top the place contests are merely solutions that luck ought to intervene on the protection’s behalf. Dybantsa’s passing reads out of pick-and-rolls are a number of the finest at his place. He’s a brick wall on protection, flipping his hips to steer drivers extra easily than gamers half his dimension. There may be a lot room for enchancment, however the holes in his sport are measured at a molecular stage.
When Boston-area talent coach Brandon Ball first began shaping Dybantsa’s sport, most of his pupils labored out twice a day throughout the summer time. However Dybantsa, then 14, was totally different. It reminded Ball of his star consumer Terrence Clarke, who was one of many high gamers within the nation on the time, earlier than dying in a automotive accident.
Dybantsa would arrive on the fitness center at 6 a.m., and they might work on constructing his talent set. He would carry weights at 9 a.m. after which return to the fitness center to work on his jumper at midday. He would have a sport at 6 p.m., which needs to be the tip of it. However no, another exercise on the ground postgame.
“Most children can’t do 3 times a day, however he has nice physique language at each single cease,” Ball stated. “He understood the mission early, and Terrence was the identical manner. The child’s work ethic is totally different.”
Most children that age have lives exterior the fitness center. Not Dybantsa. He proudly claims he doesn’t do something exterior of ball and faculty. Ask him what his hobbies are, they’re basketball and basketball. There’s a cause BYU’s extra buttoned-up campus tradition wasn’t a deterrent for him.
There’s a commonality to most gamers who maximize their careers within the NBA. They had been those who had been getting in additional work whereas their friends had been enjoying video video games or going to the films. They had been taught one thing on the courtroom as soon as after which can do it an hour later as in the event that they’ve identified it their entire life.
As Dybantsa grew and shortly turned among the finest gamers within the nation, it cemented his unwavering perception that basketball was going to be his future, not that anybody who knew him was questioning it at that time.
“My life motto is ‘Ain’t no Plan B. I plan who I’m presupposed to be,’ ” Dybantsa stated. “Individuals all the time ask me if I’ve a Plan B. Nah, I don’t.”
Prince of the NIL revolution
A yr in the past, Dybantsa had by no means heard of Utah Prep. Few individuals had.
It’s a reclamation challenge of a defunct faculty that relocated to Hurricane, Utah, however it’s not pronounced hurricane. Ask a neighborhood to clarify its Scouse roots so that you can perceive.
Shortly after becoming a member of a star-studded roster at Prolific Prep, an Adidas faculty, Dybantsa signed a take care of Nike that ends earlier than his school profession begins. Now that NIL has made each highschool offseason a free-agency interval, Prolific knew there was a very good likelihood Dybantsa was heading off to a Nike program for his senior yr. Enter Utah Prep.
“For everybody concerned, this was a primary of its form,” Bernardi stated. “A brand new precedent had been set, and we’re all attempting to determine it out because it goes. I feel the mindset of ‘What’s your provide’ has been the largest change and you need to make faster choices.”
BYU donors facilitated an April go to to the varsity for Ace and Chelsea earlier than they took a visit all the way down to Provo to see the faculty’s campus. That was after they first met incoming BYU coach Kevin Younger, who was then the highest assistant for the Phoenix Suns however traveled out of Arizona in the midst of a playoff sequence to host the go to.
Dybantsa cheers with BYU scholar followers throughout a current sport in Provo, Utah. (Chris Gardner / Getty Photos)
Utah Prep reportedly supplied Ace $600,000 and an possession stake within the fledgling program, in keeping with the Salt Lake Tribune. Executed deal. AJ visited, noticed the mountains within the distance and signed up for the transfer. There was nothing else to do there, which is simply how he appreciated it.
When Dybantsa was requested why he didn’t attend one of many iconic highschool packages like Montverde Academy in Florida — which reportedly supplied $1 million for AJ’s senior season — he defined how he wished to do issues otherwise.
“Montverde, we are able to use them for instance, I’m attempting to indicate individuals you don’t must go to a faculty like that to perform sure issues,” AJ stated. “They’re a fantastic faculty, they usually’ve bought essentially the most league guys from highschool. So, there’s no knock going there. However you don’t must go to a faculty like that.”
Nearly each main NBA agent recruited AJ, however Ace determined to proceed to handle his profession whereas bringing on Shaquille O’Neal’s former agent, Leonard Armato, as an adviser.
Ace negotiates provides, goes to Armato for his enter, involves AJ for his determination, and a alternative is then made. Companies have been capitalizing on the NIL gold rush however usually cost charges upwards of 20 p.c, considerably greater than their minimize on NBA contracts. Ace has turn into a grasp schmooze and thrives on this new gig.
Reviews have pegged Dybantsa’s NIL bundle to be price round $7 million, although individuals with information of the negotiations stated the quantity coming immediately from BYU’s NIL collective is nearer to $5 million. Within the early levels of the NIL period, there’s some ambiguity as to what defines an precise take care of the varsity.
The NCAA doesn’t immediately regulate NIL because the market has been formed by courtroom choices over the previous a number of years. The proposed Home v. NCAA settlement in October has cleared the way in which for a revenue-sharing mannequin from the faculties to the gamers that might go into impact as quickly as July 2025. However the gamers are usually not workers and there’s no union, so there is no such thing as a collective bargaining to determine an agreed-upon system.
Dybantsa’s position within the recruitment was to get the solutions he wanted for his profession. He requested coaches for his or her imaginative and prescient of constructing an offense by means of him and the way he would deliver profitable to their group. He didn’t simply need to understand how the pinnacle coach operates, however what his restoration and dietary program would appear like. He needs to be a professional earlier than he’s technically a professional.
The decision that sealed the deal was from Kevin Durant, who performed for Younger in Phoenix. All Dybantsa wished was to emulate Durant’s path to greatness, so he was bought on Younger being his information.
“You don’t need to simply signal with any individual. You need to be companions with them,” Dybantsa stated. “There’s much more to a suggestion than simply cash. Individuals solely see the cash a part of it, however it’s not nearly cash.”
Within the late levels of his recruitment, AJ and Younger had been talking immediately whereas Ace was dealing with negotiations with the faculties. Ultimately, Alabama and North Carolina matched BYU’s provide, unbeknownst to AJ.
Even when Dybantsa first knowledgeable his father in late November he was able to decide to BYU, Ace saved the concentrate on basketball and didn’t reveal the worth tag. Ace advised his son to suppose it over whereas the elder Dybantsa paid one final go to to UNC.
When Ace returned, AJ was totally locked in on BYU. They known as the varsity and signed the paperwork earlier than Ace lastly advised AJ how a lot the NIL market decided he was price.
AJ’s response?
“Wow.”
‘I’m not gonna change’
At Dybantsa’s video games, the baseline underneath the opposing group’s basket is lined shoulder to shoulder with each younger photographer and videographer attempting to interrupt into the large leagues, identical to him. When the groups change baskets at halftime, there’s a mad rush of swinging tripods to get one of the best spot on the opposite facet of the fitness center.
The times of strolling the streets in solitude are coming to an finish. He’s already turning into immediately recognizable.
“(He’s) attempting to navigate being the primary character and understanding how a lot individuals look as much as him and can observe him,” Bernardi stated. “I feel his constant vocal presence shall be an enormous key for him as he turns into a fantastic chief.”
When he returned to Boston for a sport together with his new faculty, Utah Prep, each set of eyes is rigorously careening his manner. His aura captures the entire area now. Apart from the blinged-out chain round his neck, he nonetheless carries himself like no person is watching.
“I’m not gonna change. They may,” Dybantsa stated. “There are some individuals I do know that turn into well-known and alter their entire character. They need to have this lavish way of life, however I simply keep on with who I’m, and I feel individuals mess with that.”
Dybantsa plans to return to Boston in January to see household, they usually’ve already scheduled a shoe giveaway to a neighborhood highschool. He by no means comes house empty-handed.
He’ll return as one of many highest-paid novice basketball gamers in American historical past. Ace has been operating the present whereas his son focuses on basketball and being a child. Ultimately, AJ can construct his empire as he climbs the ladder to NBA stardom.
Attending to the large stage isn’t the exhausting half. Separating your self is. Ace is aware of he gained’t have a lot luck telling a nationally famend school coach to bench his son as a result of he didn’t get again on protection. These days are over.
That’s why AJ joined a program the place he’ll be handled the identical manner since he was little. Ace has no alternative however to offer it a break and belief his son is prepared, so long as AJ nonetheless cleans his room when he comes house. Some issues would possibly by no means change.
“He’s in all probability going to appropriate me, however he’s not going to be yelling at me,” AJ stated. “Nicely … he would possibly.”
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; high photographs: Barry Chin / The Boston Globe through Getty Photos; Jim Poorten, Altan Gocher, Hans Lucas, Ezra Shaw / Getty Photos)
