BOSTON — AJ Dybantsa is the top high school basketball recruit in the country. Born in Boston and raised in Brockton, the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft will enjoy a homecoming on Wednesday night.
Dybantsa and his high school team, Utah Prep, will square off against Virginia’s Highland School at Emmanuel College on Wednesday night. It will give local fans a chance — potentially their final chance — to see Dybantsa before he takes his game to the college level.
Highland School touts the No. 4-rated prospect in Nate Ament, so Wednesday night will give fans a chance to see two of the best high school players in the country go head-to-head.
“It will be very fun. It’s going to be highly competitive game,” Dybantsa told WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche. “They’re a good team from Virginia and they have a top-ranked guy. We have a top-ranked guy, so it’s going to be a great, competitive matchup.”
It’s unfortunate that Dybantsa’s return comes on the same night that the Celtics host the Golden State Warriors at TD Garden, but he’s expecting every one of the 1,400 seats at Emmanuel — and possibly a few more — to be full on Wednesday.
Dybantsa was raised in Brockton and spent his freshman year at St. Sebastian’s School in Needham, where he was named the Massachusetts Boys’ Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season.
He then transferred to Prolific Prep in Napa, California and led the team to a Grind Session World Championship last March. The 6-foot-9 forward helped Team USA win gold at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup over the summer.
He’s playing his senior year at Utah Prep, where he’s averaged 14 points and 14 rebounds over the first two games of the season. Dybantsa said he’s been working hard to become a more consistent 3-point shooter, and is excited to play in front of a large number of family and friends on Wednesday.
“Anytime I get to play back home, the crowd shows support and it’s good to just play in front of your community,” he told Roche.
Dybantsa said he was planning to spend a lot of time with his sisters in his return home, and added that he still talks to a lot of his local friends on a daily basis.
WBZ-TV featured Dybantsa as an MVP of the Week back in July.
Over a dozen colleges have made offers to Dybantsa, but he recently narrowed the list to seven: Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, BYU, Kansas, Kansas State, and North Carolina. He plans to make his decision in February.
Dybantsa said that his guidelines are a little different than those of other top recruits.
“A guy of my caliber in past years has the best four schools — the blue bloods. Everyone has the same list, but I’m looking for the right fit,” he explained.
Dybantsa said that he wants a school that is family-oriented, delivers a winning program, and will be a great source for his development.
“I felt like those schools are the best for those,” he said. “People say it’s an unusual list, but it’s about the fit for me. Not the best history or whatever else people want to see.
“I don’t care what everyone else thinks,” he added. “I’m going to the school that I think is my best fit. If you have a problem with that, I don’t care.”
