No. 1 Pick AJ Dybantsa Misses the Wizards' Opener With a Mild Ankle Sprain

AJ Dybantsa’s NBA debut will not be opening night. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft missed the Washington Wizards’ season opener against Milwaukee on Wednesday with a mild left ankle sprain, an injury he picked up in the last preseason game on Friday. Head coach Brian Keefe called the sprain mild and the rookie day-to-day, and pointed to Friday’s home game against Toronto as the one Dybantsa could be ready for. Washington won the opener without him, 128-116, behind a 34-point debut from Anthony Davis.

Why was Dybantsa not playing?

A preseason play that looked minor cost him the night his rookie season was supposed to start. In the second quarter of Friday’s preseason finale against New Orleans, Dybantsa landed after a jumper over Zion Williamson and rolled the ankle, in ClutchPoints’ report of the injury and its aftermath. He walked off under his own power with a moderate limp, which mattered, and Washington ruled him out for the rest of that game as a caution. The Wizards lost the finale 107-106, and the caution carried into the week. On Tuesday, Keefe told reporters the sprain is mild, the injury is not serious, and his rookie is day-to-day with light practice work behind him. None of that got him cleared for Wednesday, and the club’s injury report for the opener listed him out with a left ankle sprain.

Who took his place, and what did the night look like without him?

Bilal Coulibaly started in the spot drawn up for Dybantsa, alongside Trae Young, Kyshawn George, Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr, per NBC Sports’ lineup report. That five tells you what Washington has become: two veteran stars, Young and Davis, added to a young core the club drafted and kept. Dybantsa was meant to be the third name in that sentence and the first one in the marketing. The night worked out anyway. Davis scored 34 points with 12 rebounds in his Wizards debut, 18 of the points in the third quarter, and Young added 20 points and 13 assists, Reuters reports. Milwaukee, playing its first game since the trade that sent Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami, led by as many as eight and trailed only 93-90 after three quarters; Washington opened the fourth with a 21-2 run and made its first nine shots of the period. Coulibaly finished with 11 points, 4 steals and 2 blocks, George scored 18, and Tyler Herro led Milwaukee with 24 points and 9 assists in his Bucks debut.

Why does Friday matter more now?

Because the debut has moved, not disappeared. Keefe pointed to the second game of the season, at home against Toronto on Friday, as the one Dybantsa could be ready for, and the fixture gives the debut a weight the opener could not. Toronto starts Kawhi Leonard, whose return season is the East’s other early story, and a No. 1 pick’s first NBA minutes against a defence built around Leonard and Scottie Barnes is a harder and better test than a Wednesday opener.

Is Washington right to be this careful?

Yes, on the medical facts the club has given. A mild ankle sprain in a 19-year-old franchise player is not a story a club gambles on in October, and day-to-day with light practice work is the profile of a player close to returning rather than one being shut down. The cost is only narrative: opening night was the one home date Washington could sell on the future arriving, and the future watched it in street clothes. Davis’s 34 points covered the absence for one night. A second missed game would start to change the conversation from patience to concern, which is why the club’s own Friday framing matters.

What happens next?

The club said it will update his status in the days leading up to Friday’s game. Practice reports on Thursday are the next checkpoint. Full practice would point to a debut, another day of light work would point to a game-time decision, and a downgrade would move the story from a delay to an absence. Toronto’s visit is also the test Toronto is using for its own questions, the way opening week around the East has paired its storylines up: the LeBron James microphone moment on the Knicks’ ring night, the scuffle that opened the Spurs and Thunder season, and the WNBA Finals between Atlanta and Golden State, which reached Game 3 the same night. If Dybantsa plays Friday and plays well, Wednesday becomes a footnote in his first week. If the ankle lingers, the questions change from when to how careful is too careful.