ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - AJ Dybantsa knows his place in basketball and where he wants to go in the game. His popularity has granted him access to many of the NBA superstars, but the United States guard is all about learning lessons from them to take his game higher.
And all the while one of the best players at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 is more interested in giving than stroking his own ego.
Dybantsa has collected 14.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game in helping USA cruise into the Semi-Finals and move just two wins short of their seventh straight undefeated U17 World Cup title.
"It will be a blessing. I have already won one so to win two would just be a blessing," said Dybantsa, referring to his gold medal from last summer at the FIBA U16 AmeriCup 2023.
Being able to call himself a U17 world champion would be just the latest feather in a cap that is getting pretty full for Dybantsa. He is already considered the number one player in the 2025 high school class and is tabbed early on as the number one pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Dybantsa has multiple times in interviews stressed that he doesn't care at all about the number one high school player status. More important is the long term game and landing in the NBA.
Dybantsa has already met most of the iconic players he hopes to play against in the NBA. He has done workouts with Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Paul George and Jayson Tatum.
"You want to work out with the best," Dybantsa said about the various workouts. "They gave me different advise because they are different players in different positions.
"LeBron was telling me just enjoy the process. Don't rush it.
"Kevin Durant was telling me don't overexert yourself, just make simpler plays.
"Chris Paul taught me how to manipulate the game because he is a point guard and has been in the game for so long."
There is also a special connection to both Tatum and Jaylen Brown because they play for the Boston Celtics - Dybantsa's favorite team since he was a child growing up in Brockton, just south of Boston.
"Me, Brown and Tatum talk sometimes. They give me advise and talk me through some stuff. I played 1-on-1 with Jaylen Brown. It's fun getting inspiration and advice from the people that I look up to."
Dybantsa even had a chance to attend Game 1 of the NBA Finals with his parents at the TD Garden.
"That was my first Finals game, so the environment between the regular season and the Finals was way different,” he remembered.
When asked about the Celtics finally winning the NBA championship - the franchise's first since 2008.
"Haha - it feels great. They just won the 'chip," said Dybantsa, who was one-year-old when Boston had last hoisted the trophy. "We've been waiting for a 'chip for a long time."
Dybantsa grew up in the Boston area and went to Saint Sebastian's School high school and was named as the Massachusetts Player of the Year in 2023. After his father was convinced, Dybantsa moved across country to play at the highly regarded Prolific Prep high school program near San Francisco.
Playing with the likes of U17 World Cup teammate Tyran Stokes as well as the trio of McDonald's All-Americans Zoom Diallo, Derrion Reid and Aiden Sherrell, Prolific Prep finished seventh in the final US high school rankings this past season.
For his final year of high school, Dybantsa will move from the San Francisco area to Hurricane, Utah and attend Utah Prep - in a city of about 23,000 people. His U17 World Cup teammate JJ Mandaquit will also be playing there next season.
"It was the best decision by me and my parents to go out to Utah and just work. My goal is to have an immediate impact on the college floor (in 2025-26), so I am going to work my butt off to be able to do that," Dybantsa said. "There will be more leeway and opportunity to get better."
The USA coach in Istanbul, Sharman White, has been impressed with Dybantsa's development from the U16 AmeriCup to this summer, especially how he has checked his ego at the door.
"He's all in on that. He's one of the guys we look to to demonstrate that. He does a great job with that. He knows who he is as a player. He doesn’t need to puff his chest at all. He knows who he is and what he’s capable of. It's exciting to see him grow in that manner," White said.
Dybantsa may only be 17 years old, but he is fully aware that he is already a role model for kids younger than himself. The money he received for winning the Massachusetts Player of the Year he donated to the Boys & Girls Club in Brockton. Dybantsa also signed a Name, Image and Likeness (NLI) deal with Nike, and he donated some Nike products to the Boys & Girls Clubs in Brockton and Boston.
Dybantsa said his desire to be a role model stems from his father.
"He comes from Congo in Africa. Growing up, we would always go back and he would bring two suitcases of clothes to give away. I took that and said if he’s doing that I should be doing that to the kids of Brockton," Dybantsa said. "Not a lot of kids come out of Brockton, so if I am able to come out and have the resources to give back, I will give back."
Dybantsa also decided to give back in sorts to his parents as he played at the 2024 Nike Hoop Summit. He was still a high school junior so he could not play for the USA Select team so he lined up for the World Select team and represented his father’s Congo as well as Jamaica, his mother's homeland.
"For most of my life I will be representing USA to represent myself, so if I had a chance to represent my family, then why not? I chose Hoop Summit to represent my dad and mom."
FIBA