In Paris, no. 1 recruit AJ Dybantsa gets taste of NBA, potential Team USA future awaiting him

PARIS — The NBA’s trip to Paris this week celebrated and capitalized on French sensation and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama’s heritage and rising stardom.

But it also provided a chance for a likely future NBA No. 1 pick, 17-year-old AJ Dybantsa, to glimpse what’s waiting for him.

Dybantsa wore a vintage, long-sleeved polo with the Red Bull logo on his chest and a pair of baggy jeans, while his father, Anicet “Ace” Dybantsa Sr., donned a crisp light blue suit and tie courtside Saturday ahead of the second of two games in Paris this week between Wembanyama’s Spurs and the Indiana Pacers.

The younger Dybantsa is a 6-foot-9 senior forward at Utah Prep in Hurricane, Utah. He’s the top recruit of the 2025 college class (per the 247 Sports Composite), has committed to BYU and is already the presumptive No. 1 pick for the 2026 NBA Draft. He’s signed a name, image and likeness deal worth nearly $7 million.

His high school team didn’t have a game this week. So, why not head to Paris to check out this Wembanyama fella and get a taste of what’s to come?

“It’s been great just seeing the atmosphere from a foreign country versus the U.S., about basketball, is still unreal,” A.J. said. “Paris enjoys basketball, like how we do it.”

Asked about the surge in the NBA of foreign players — roughly 30 percent of current players were born outside the U.S. — and the recent domination of MVP voting by foreign players, Dybantsa said, “There’s a lot of American players that people are just overlooking in the NBA doing what they’re supposed to do.

“Hopefully, like in the next few years, we’ll have more guys, including me,” Dybantsa said. “But I mean, basketball is supposed to be an international sport. It’s not just an American sport, so it’s good that international guys are coming in the league and performing at a high level.”

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Dybantsa has enjoyed a busy week of basketball workouts at the Hoops House in Paris, attended a Paris Saint-Germain soccer game against Manchester City on Wednesday night and met fashion designer Jeff Hamilton and rapper French Montana.

Dybantsa said he met Wembanyama previously but hadn’t bumped into him before Saturday’s game. Dybantsa’s already said he’d like to be teammates with Wemby — most recently telling BYUtv, “There is no state tax in San Antonio.” He’s also thinking about playing against Wemby on an international stage.

Dybantsa has won two gold medals for USA Basketball’s junior teams and expects to play for the Americans’ under-19 team this summer. He mentioned, “Hopefully I can take that with me into 2028 or 2032” — a reference to making the Olympic team for 2028 in Los Angeles or the 2032 Brisbane Games. Dybantsa also said he was interested in playing for the Americans’ next World Cup team in 2027 in Qatar, assuming his career follows the intended timeline of his turning pro in 2026 and playing well enough as an NBA rookie to make that team.

Wembanyama was one of Team France’s top players at the Paris Games, narrowly missing a gold medal in a hard-fought final against the U.S. He figures to be Les Bleus’ best player for many future international tournaments.

Dybantsa’s father, meanwhile, is a former Boston University police officer who currently manages his son’s career. He was born in the Congo in Africa but lived in Paris as a teenager, where he trained as a pro soccer player. His children, including AJ, have visited Paris before.

A family adviser to the Dybantsas is friends with NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Ace said, and Silver’s staff helped organize this trip. AJ’s high school team played last Sunday and lost to Montverde Academy on national TV. The Dybantsas (AJ scored 25 points in the loss) left for Paris after that.

“We were going to come for one game … but that wasn’t going to cut it,” Ace said. “The NBA helped us navigate the whole thing, get interviews and set up (meetings).

“(AJ) can’t go a day or two without playing, so I made sure I got him a trainer while he was here and it was great.”

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(Photo: Altan Gocher / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images)