The Washington Wizards’ season opener was supposed to start with AJ Dybantsa.
Instead, it starts without him.
Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft out of BYU, has been ruled out for Wednesday night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks because of an ankle injury. Coach Brian Keefe confirmed the rookie will miss the opener, turning what had been the most anticipated individual storyline of Washington’s first game into an early test of how the team handles his absence.
The injury came in the Wizards’ final preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans, when Dybantsa twisted his left ankle in the second quarter and exited. He had already flashed why he was such a focal point for the franchise: 12 points in 15 minutes before leaving the game.
That preseason sample was small, but it was enough to show why Washington had circled his debut. Across four exhibition appearances, Dybantsa averaged 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 21.7 minutes. The production was encouraging, even if the efficiency still had room to grow.
Now the debut is delayed.
Keefe described the injury as a mild ankle sprain, and Dybantsa is considered day-to-day. That leaves open the possibility that the absence is brief, but it does not change the immediate reality for Washington: the opener against Milwaukee will come without the player expected to define the next era of the roster.
That matters because Dybantsa’s arrival was already loaded with franchise context. He is the Wizards’ seventh No. 1 pick all-time and the first since John Wall in 2010. Washington has spent years trying to climb out of a difficult stretch, and this season comes with clear benchmarks attached to it: the Wizards are aiming to get past 20 wins for the first time since 2022-23 and end a five-year playoff drought.
For now, though, the spotlight shifts from what Dybantsa might become to how Washington looks without him.
The Bucks will still provide the first real measuring stick of the season, but the game no longer centers on a rookie debut. It becomes a different kind of opening-night examination — one that asks how quickly the Wizards can settle into a rotation, a rhythm and an identity while their most watched player waits to return.