NBA Draft Eve Intel: Wizards Plan AJ Dybantsa at No. 1, Peterson to Jazz at No. 2

The Washington Wizards plan to draft BYU forward AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick at Barclays Center on Tuesday, per [Dallas Hoops Journal

The Wizards' Path to Dybantsa

Washington's front office has run parallel diligence on Dybantsa and Peterson, with the internal preference shifting toward Dybantsa, per the Dallas Hoops Journal report citing

The Peterson Move and Utah at No. 2

Darryn Peterson informed the Jazz he plans to take no further team visits, per The Athletic, a signal he is comfortable with the No. 2 pick to Utah and prefers to hear his name called there if the Wizards take Dybantsa. The Kansas guard averaged 20.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game as a freshman, shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from three across 24 games (he missed 11 games to a combination of hamstring and ankle issues), per the Kansas Athletics roster page. He led the Jayhawks in scoring and made 63 threes.

Utah pairs Peterson with Keyonte George in a backcourt that immediately enters the 2026-27 Western Conference play-in conversation. The fit is the cleanest plug-and-play guard projection in the class.

The Top Five After Peterson

The CBS Sports lottery mock has Cameron Boozer at No. 3 with a top-five locked in by pick five, per CBS Sports. The Athletic's post-lottery mock also has Boozer in the top three, per the NBA.com Athletic recap.

Boozer's stock has held steady through June. The Duke power forward averaged 22.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists on 55.9 percent shooting as a freshman, won the Associated Press national player of the year and the CBS Sports player and freshman of the year awards, per CBS Sports. He is the cleanest big-man prospect in the class.

Betting Impact and Draft-Night Markets

The No. 1 pick market on FanDuel had Dybantsa as the heavy favorite at minus-280 as of June 17, with Peterson at plus-230 and Boozer at plus-1100, per StatSniper's prior 2026 NBA Draft preview tracking the close of the FanDuel market that week. The price has compressed further into the weekend as Peterson's no-more-visits posture (signaling he is comfortable with the No. 2 pick to Utah) effectively confirmed the top-two order.

The cleaner draft-night exposure is the draft-position over/under markets at the major books, which open Monday morning ahead of the Tuesday selections. The Peterson at No. 2 line is the variance hedge: a small but real probability of a Hornets-or-Pelicans trade-up swap is the only path to a movement, and the Jazz are not expected to move the pick.

The longer-tail second-order play is the rookie-of-the-year futures market, which opens within 24 hours of the draft. The chalk number is the No. 1 pick's price given usage and minutes; the contrarian is the No. 2 pick on a faster-paced offense. Wait for the official open before committing exposure.

DFS Angle: 2026-27 Rookie of the Year

The 2026-27 Rookie of the Year futures market typically opens within 24 hours of draft night and has historically slotted the No. 1 pick as the chalk favorite. Dybantsa's case on the Wizards is the cleanest setup of any No. 1 since Victor Wembanyama: a rebuilding roster with usage to spare, no incumbent wing creator, and a 30-plus minutes-per-game projection. Peterson's case in Utah is the contrarian play; the Jazz played at a higher pace than the Wizards in 2025-26, which produces higher per-game box-score volume per possession.

Wait for the FanDuel and DraftKings opens Tuesday night before committing exposure; the price compression on the No. 1 pick once announced will be sharp.

What to Watch Next

The Wizards go on the clock at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday June 23 at Barclays Center. Watch the Monday-evening trade chatter for the Pelicans (No. 3) and Hornets (No. 4), the two picks most likely to move ahead of draft night. The Jazz at No. 2 are not expected to move the pick.

The second round opens at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday June 24 with the international prospect class anchored by Hugo Gonzalez (Real Madrid) and Egor Demin (BYU teammate of Dybantsa, declared after one season).

Chad AI tracks every draft-night prop, position over/under, and rookie-of-the-year futures on the slate inside the StatSniper app. The NBA daily picks page updates with draft-night exposure and Tuesday trade-deadline futures. For the post-lottery setup, the 2026 NBA Draft preview with FanDuel odds has the full top-five breakdown and odds history.

Wizards intel sourced from Dallas Hoops Journal, [The Athletic via NBA.com](https://www.nba.com/news/the-athletic-