The NBA draft lottery is in the books, and for the first time since 2018, the team with the worst record in the NBA has won it. The Washington Wizards finished with a woeful 17-65 record in this 2025-26 season, and have now secured the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
This is the third time that the Wizards have won the lottery, and they currently have a 50% success rate with that top pick. They selected Kwame Brown back in 2001 and then John Wall in 2010. Brown has gone down as one of the biggest busts ever in the NBA, while Wall is regarded as one of the best players in franchise history.
The Wizards will be hoping this next one is a lot more like Wall than Brown. While we don’t know for certain who will go No. 1, it is widely believed that former BYU star AJ Dybantsa will be the first prospect to have their name called at Barclays Center on June 23.
Dybantsa was the top recruit coming out of high school, and his collegiate career certainly didn’t bring his stock down. If the Wizards do indeed select the 19-year-old with the first pick, here is what their starting lineup could look like in 2026-27.
Starters
Point Guard: Trae Young
Shooting Guard: Kyshawn George
Small Forward: AJ Dybantsa
Power Forward: Anthony Davis
Center: Alex Sarr
Following this 17-win campaign, the Wizards have now won a combined 35 games over two seasons. With this starting five, they could better that tally next season.
The Wizards landed Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks in January 2026 for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. With how Young’s stock had fallen, they didn’t have to give up much.
Young averaged 17.9 points, 2.0 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game for the Hawks and Wizards in 2025-26. He was injured for much of the campaign (played 15 games), and the hope would be that he’ll at least be somewhere near his best once he’s fully healthy.
For all his flaws, Young still has terrific career averages of 25.1 points and 9.8 assists per game. He can focus on his playmaking and take a backseat from a scoring standpoint here, as there is enough of that around him. There are also good defenders to make up for his deficiencies on that end.
Kyshawn George showed noticeable improvement on both ends of the floor for the Wizards in his sophomore season. The 24th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft averaged 14.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game in 2025-26.
Having a playmaker like Young next to him should also greatly help George on offense. It would also help Dybantsa. The forward averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game as a freshman for the Cougars in 2025-26.
It’s hard to say just how impactful Dybantsa will be as a rookie, though. We saw Cooper Flagg, the first pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, go from strength to strength for the Dallas Mavericks as his rookie campaign went on.
There was much debate over who was the better prospect between these two, and it will be interesting to see how Dybantsa’s rookie season compares to Flagg’s. He has all the physical tools and the skills to be a total hit. Dybantsa believes he is versatile and adaptable enough to fit anywhere, too.
We mentioned the Wizards having defenders to cover for Young, and that’s where Anthony Davis comes in. Again, injuries are a concern with Davis, and it’s at a much higher level. He averaged 20.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game for the Mavericks in 2025-26, but only featured 20 times.
The Mavericks had had enough of the Davis experience in just a year and sent him to the Wizards at the Feb. 5 trade deadline. If he can stay relatively healthy, they’ll be a pretty good defensive team. Of course, there is some doubt as well about whether Davis will be a Wizard for much longer, but we’ll assume for now that he stays.
Lastly, we get to Alex Sarr, who, like George, showed improvement in his sophomore season. Sarr, the second pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, averaged 16.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.8 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game for the Wizards in 2025-26. The Frenchman is an excellent rim protector and can hold his own on the perimeter as well.
Sarr’s offense is still a work in progress, but he is another who should benefit from playing with Young. He, Dybantsa, and George have never played with a point guard of this caliber, and these playoffs have shown us the importance of having a great creator in the backcourt.
How Good Can The Wizards Be In 2026-27?
All in all, there would be a lot to like about this Wizards starting five with Dybantsa. To go with him, there is an offensive engine in Young, an exciting two-way wing in George, a two-way star in Davis, and a defensive anchor in Sarr. Provided the two big guns stay upright, this team could make noise in the Eastern Conference.
The East is looking a lot stronger now than it did a year or so ago, though. The New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, and Boston Celtics should remain at the top of the Conference. You’d expect the Indiana Pacers to join them in that fight atop the standings with Tyrese Haliburton returning.
The Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Hornets, and Toronto Raptors are the teams you’d expect to see battling it out for the remaining two automatic playoff spots. You probably won’t pick the Wizards over any of these four currently. So, a spot in the play-in tournament seems like a realistic enough expectation from this group. If the injury gods smile on them, they could potentially look to snag the sixth seed.
