Sports
How BYU built its roster to maximize the season of AJ Dybantsa
Shortly after AJ Dybantsa announced his commitment to BYU in December 2024, coach Kevin Young and the Cougars’ staff hit pause on their celebrations to answer the next question: How could they build around him?
The No. 1 prospect of the 2025 high school class and the program’s first five-star recruit since the ESPN recruiting database started in 2007 would be the Cougars’ foundational building block, but they needed to assemble a winning team.
“Everybody had a different point of view,” Justin Young, BYU’s director of recruiting and Kevin’s brother, told ESPN. “Do we need to have specific positions around him? Or specialists?”
BYU ultimately focused on retaining and recruiting players who could play off Dybantsa in a dynamic offense — clear the lane and create opportunities for the Cougars star but also take shots when needed — and ended up with a balanced mix of stars and role players. Now the Cougars are developing the chemistry they’ll need to make another deep NCAA tournament run a year after a trip to the Sweet 16. And all of it is an effort to maximize what’s expected to be the only season of Dybantsa, ESPN’s projected No. 2 pick in the 2026 NBA draft, in Provo.
“You can’t squander [a chance like this] at a place like BYU,” Justin Young said. “You just can’t. It’s malpractice. When you have the buy-in — like, AJ is trying to win [a title], that dude honestly believes it every day he wakes up — you have to capitalize.”
Here are the three steps the Cougars, who face Clemson at Tuesday’s Jimmy V Classic (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), have followed in pursuit of making the most of this season’s opportunity.
Step 1: Recruit an elite guard
BYU’s staff knew it needed a backcourt star to pair with Dybantsa and All-Big 12 returnee Richie Saunders. With Dallin Hall initially expected to return, the Cougars didn’t know whether they needed a combo guard who could play alongside Hall, or someone to run point when Hall wasn’t on the floor.
Six days after the Cougars lost to Alabama in the Sweet 16, though, Hall entered the transfer portal and their need became evident: Even with Young’s plans to put the ball in Dybantsa’s hands, they needed a pure point guard.
Five days after that, Baylor’s Robert Wright III also entered the portal — and immediately became BYU’s target.
“It was pretty clear that he was the best point guard in the portal,” Kevin Young said.
Wright was a top-25 recruit in the 2024 high school class who established himself as one of the most dynamic freshmen point guards in the country once he was inserted into the Bears’ lineup for the second half of last season. Young and his staff witnessed Wright’s impact when he went for 22 points and 6 assists against the Cougars this past January.
Justin Young had been monitoring Wright since he was the starting point guard at Montverde Academy (Florida) — a team that also starred 2025 NBA draft first-round picks Cooper Flagg, Derik Queen, Asa Newell and Liam McNeeley.
“That might be the best high school team I’ve ever seen,” Justin Young said. “And he [performed] every single game.”
The Cougars had found their star guard answer in Wright. Lost in the hype of his addition, though, was how equally important Saunders’ return was — he was one of the best players in the country down the stretch of last season, averaging 20.0 points on 44.8% shooting from 3 over the final 11 games.
“He’s one of the best closeout players in college,” Kevin Young said. “And in a quote unquote big three, he fits next to ball-dominant guys.”
With Saunders, Wright and Dybantsa, BYU’s perimeter core was set: Wright as the playmaker at point guard, Dybantsa on one wing as the do-everything offensive focal point and Saunders on the other getting open catch-and-shoot opportunities. On paper, the trio was as explosive as any in the country.
“It makes not only my life easier, but their lives easier too,” Dybantsa said last month. “It’s not all about points for us but it’s just about winning, and whoever gets off gets off and us being happy for each other. … We can space the floor, so it gets each other open shots.”
Step 2: Find role players to complement the big three
There are cautionary tales about programs that don’t typically recruit elite talent unexpectedly landing lottery prospects — and not maximizing the potential of the teams they lead.
Ben Simmons was the No. 1 recruit in 2015 when he committed to LSU, which also brought in five-star guard Antonio Blakeney. The Tigers didn’t make the NCAA tournament. Markelle Fultz was the No. 1 pick of the 2017 NBA draft after one season at Washington. The Huskies went 9-22 in his lone college campaign. And most recently, Rutgers recruited eventual 2025 NBA draft lottery picks Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. The Scarlet Knights stumbled to a 15-17 finish.
“The real moral of those stories is it’s not good enough to just go get one or two good players,” Kevin Young said. “One thing that gets really lost at every level is roster composition and team-building.”
Young knew this from first-hand experience. He worked with top-heavy rosters as an NBA assistant, most notably with the Phoenix Suns, who traded for Bradley Beal to form a big three with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker in 2023. They lost in the first round of the playoffs before missing them altogether, with Beal and Durant both departing in 2025.
“Sometimes you get paralyzed by the talent, so it’s more about still trying to get everyone to play together and not get hung up on the status of the ‘big three,'” Kevin Young said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re not winning.”
Kevin Young first looked internally to find the rest of what he hoped to be a winning roster. Keba Keita, one of the best defensive big men in the country who started 35 games last season, was slated to return. The Cougars also brought back Dawson Baker and Mihailo Bošković, as well as Khadim Mboup who redshirted last season.
“I don’t want to say [retention is] the secret sauce in this era of college basketball, but it’s a separator,” Kevin Young said.
Next was the transfer portal. The Cougars had the budget to spend on another star after securing Wright’s commitment — Yaxel Lendeborg and Darrion Williams were among the in-demand transfers BYU was linked to — but opted for depth after consulting Dybantsa and Saunders about the types of players with which they work best.
“We went to them and were like, ‘What players can we put around you to be successful? Help us think through this,'” Justin Young said. “The NBA does it all the time. Talk to your franchise guys, your max contract guys, what works well with you in your mind. … When you have four Tier 1, alpha-male college players, the ball doesn’t move around that much.”
BYU was focused on finding floor-spacers, guys who would be happy to take and make open shots with the opposition’s attention on Dybantsa, Wright and Saunders.
Southern Illinois transfer Kennard Davis Jr. was the best of the group. He was immediately penciled into the starting lineup as a 3-and-D piece after averaging 16.3 points for the Salukis last season. He has transitioned nicely into the complementary role BYU hoped he would fill while also proving he can step up when needed (see: his 18 points against Miami on Thanksgiving).
Washington transfer Dominique Diomande was a high-ceiling addition, the ideal bench option alongside SC Next 100 recruit Xavion Staton, who played at Utah Prep with Dybantsa. UC Riverside transfer Nate Pickens and Idaho transfer Tyler Mrus, who had big games against the Cougars last season (Pickens with 18 points and Mrus with 17 points), gave the Cougars two more perimeter shooters.
Despite losing Pickens (ankle) and Baker (ACL tear) to injury since the start of the season — and missing Davis for three games (one due to injury and the other two due to suspension) — the results so far have netted BYU the nation’s fifth-best offensive rating with 124.7 points per 100 possessions as the final (and ongoing) step of the Cougars’ roster construction process is put to the test.
Step 3: Develop chemistry
BYU’s big three are living up to expectations from a numbers perspective: Dybantsa is averaging 19.4 points on 54.4% shooting, Wright is putting up 16.9 points and 6.3 assists, and Saunders is averaging 18.9 points and shooting 42.6% from 3.
How well they play off each other is still a work in progress — there were some signs of “my turn, your turn” early on — but it has improved over the first five weeks of the season. Their near-comeback from a 20-point deficit against UConn on Nov. 15 was a turning point.
“I definitely noticed a change,” Wright said. “It’s just us getting more comfortable and building chemistry with each other. We’re a new team, so we got to build chemistry faster than other teams. And in the tougher games, that’s when you learn something.”
The Cougars’ 98-70 win over Wisconsin a week later showed their true potential as the trio combined for 54 points, 16 assists and 8 3-pointers. The team finished 14 for 34 from 3 and had 18 assists on 31 made baskets.
“That game felt good,” Kevin Young said. “That’s what I told them after the game. That’s BYU basketball for 25-26. That’s what we want it to look like and feel like.”
After Tuesday’s game against Clemson, BYU returns to the Marriott Center for the first time in more than 30 days to host four straight games. That stretch leading up to the start of Big 12 play in January will give the Cougars a chance to figure out ways to make the offense flow even better, much like they did last season, when they finally hit their stride in the second half of conference play.
With the potential for this to be the only season that BYU is home to a potential No. 1 pick and multiple All-America candidates, the team is aware it has a short window to make the most of these efforts.
“When you have great talent, it’s a lot of responsibility to do everything you can … to make it work and not squander something that can be a really good thing,” Kevin Young said.
NEW YORK — For a 22nd straight year, LeBron James is an All-Star.
The NBA announced its reserves for the Feb. 15 midseason showcase Sunday night on NBC before James and his Los Angeles Lakers faced the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Voting was conducted by the league’s coaches over the past week.
James, 41, was the last player announced, as the league’s oldest player extended his record for both overall and consecutive selections by another season.
“Super humbling,” James said Sunday night, after the Lakers lost to the Knicks 112-100. “The coaches voted, right, so mad respect to the coaches and them seeing the way I’m still playing at this latter stage of my career.
“And to be able to be an All-Star means a lot to my family, people that have been following my career, my LeBron faithful. They’ve been following my journey and it’s always rewarding just from a humbling standpoint to be able to be rewarded for what you put your work into.”
James did not play in last season’s All-Star event because of injury.
“You think about a star player, their prime is their All-NBA, All-Star years,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And you know, he’s basically had a 20-plus-year prime. It’s kind of unheard of. It is unheard of, uncharted, whatever you want to call it. I mean, it’s incredible. It’s a testament to the work that he puts in.”
James was joined on the court Sunday by three other All-Stars: starters Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson, and fellow reserve selection Karl-Anthony Towns.
“Of course he deserves it,” teammate Doncic said of James. “He’s playing at a top level still at that age. It’s incredible to share the floor with him.”
The reserves named with James were led by Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant, whose 16th All-Star selection is fourth most of all time — breaking a tie with Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and putting him behind only Kobe Bryant (18), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) and James.
Joining James and Durant as Western Conference reserve selections included a trio of first-time participants — Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren and Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija — plus Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (fourth) and Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (fifth).
“Multiple 50-point games, multiple 50-point games in the playoffs, let’s see, triple-double in the finals, NBA champion, most wins in the West over the last 10 years, he’s the point guard of that team … in my mind, all those things make sense, except for the one that was missing,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said of Murray.
In the Eastern Conference, Towns — making his sixth All-Star team — was joined by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (seventh), Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam (fourth), Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (second) and a trio of first-time picks: Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren, Miami Heat guard Norman Powell and Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson.
“I believe that he deserves it, and I think probably one of the best compliments you can give him is the fact that he starred in all of his roles that he’s had in his career, and he just continues to get better,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Powell. “He’s having his best years now after the age of 30.”
Under the NBA’s latest format change for the event — U.S. vs. the World — the 24 All-Star participants will be divided into three eight-player rosters — two featuring Americans, with the third made up of international players. They will each play two 12-minute games, with the two teams with the best record — or the two with the best point differential if they all go 1-1 — facing each other in the championship game.
The All-Star Game will take place at the LA Clippers‘ arena (Intuit Dome) in Inglewood, California. The Clippers were notably absent from Sunday’s announcement; despite going 16-4 over their past 20 games to partially erase a brutal start to the season, the team didn’t have any of its players selected for this year’s event.
Either Clippers star Kawhi Leonard — who since Dec. 20 has led the league in scoring and steals — or Rockets center Alperen Sengun is probably the best candidate to replace Milwaukee‘s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will sit out the game because of a calf injury. NBA commissioner Adam Silver will pick a replacement for Antetokounmpo, plus any additional players should the need arise.
Other players chosen last month as starters were: Boston‘s Jaylen Brown, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Philadelphia‘s Tyrese Maxey, Golden State‘s Stephen Curry, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and San Antonio‘s Victor Wembanyama.
Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff will coach one of the All-Star teams. Either San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Adelman will coach another — that will be decided by results of games Sunday — and the NBA has not announced how the coach of the third team will be decided.
Bickerstaff earned his nod because the Pistons lead the Eastern Conference. Johnson or Adelman will go by having the best record in the Western Conference among eligible coaches; Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault coaches the team with the West’s best record, but he cannot coach the All-Star Game this year because he coached at the event last season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Zach Kram
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Kevin Pelton
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Kevin Pelton
ESPN Senior Writer
- Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series
- Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers
- Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system
Multiple Authors
As the calendar turns to February, the 2026 NBA All-Star Game is just two weeks away. The starters were announced on Jan. 19 and include Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the West. Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Jaylen Brown, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyrese Maxey were named the starters in the East.
The reserves were announced on Sunday, including Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the West, as well as Donovan Mitchell and Karl-Anthony Towns in the East.
ESPN NBA Insiders Zach Kram and Kevin Pelton break down the full East and West rosters, including biggest surprises and snubs, and make their bold predictions.
Which player were you most surprised to see on the roster?
Pelton: LeBron James is the clear choice, but seeing Karl-Anthony Towns pop up was surprising given the pessimism over how he’s played this season on top of the Knicks’ recent slump. I think teammate Mikal Bridges has been New York’s second-best player after starter Jalen Brunson. Given Towns’ track record, the choice is certainly reasonable yet surprising nonetheless.
Kram: LeBron. It sounds silly to be surprised that a player who had made the last 21 All-Star games would make it 22 in a row. But given that James missed the first month and that his counting stats are down in his age-41 season, as well as the fierce competition in the Western Conference player pool, it was a surprise that his was the last name unveiled during the All-Star roster announcement.
Which player were you most surprised to see left off?
Pelton: Kawhi Leonard. Unless this is a secret part of the punishment from the NBA’s investigation into Leonard’s endorsement deal with Aspiration, I don’t get it. Leonard has been a top-10 player this season, and following a dreadful start, the LA Clippers have been one of the league’s hottest teams since Christmas. Anthony Edwards was the only West reserve I would have picked over Leonard. If I was taking a multi-time Finals MVP playing in L.A., Leonard was an easy choice over James.
Kram: Alperen Sengun was a first-time All-Star last season, has improved as a defender and has better counting stats across the board this year while helping lead the Houston Rockets to the second-best point differential in the West. New Rocket Kevin Durant was a shoo-in, but I think Sengun should have given Houston a second All-Star representative, even if that meant Devin Booker missed out and the surprising Phoenix Suns didn’t get a single player on the team.
Are we getting close to enough international All-Stars to do a normal USA/World 12 vs. 12 game?
Pelton: We might be closer to even in terms of internationals than East vs. West. Some of the answer depends on how creative the NBA is willing to get with its definition of international. Donovan Mitchell made the case recently to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears that he’d like to represent Panama, where his grandmother was born. If the NBA pushed every possible case like that or Kyrie Irving (born in Australia, though he grew up in the U.S.), they could get to 12 without diluting the meaning of being an All-Star.
Kram: There are almost enough worthy international players to round out a 12-person roster; if that were the framework this season, the eight actual international All-Stars would likely be joined by Sengun, Lauri Markkanen, Franz Wagner (despite a lack of playing time) and Joel Embiid. (Embiid was born in Cameroon but plays for Team USA internationally; the NBA could also choose to slot Towns, who was born in New Jersey but plays for the Dominican Republic, as an international representative.) Josh Giddey, OG Anunoby and Dillon Brooks have outside cases as well.
However, those players largely don’t have better All-Star cases than the ninth-through-12th-best Americans, so I wouldn’t advocate such a consequential change just yet. Let’s see how the format works with three teams (two American, one international) this year before deciding if the NBA should change the All-Star format once again.
Give us one bold prediction for the All-Star Game/mini-tournament.
Pelton: The NBA enjoys a short-term benefit from changing the format. Drafting teams and introducing a target score (aka the “Elam ending”) resulted in more competitive games initially before devolving into the defense-free play we’ve seen since. I could see the international team in particular taking things seriously and forcing their American opponents to up their game. However, I don’t see this or anything else “fixing” the All-Star Game long-term.
Kram: Victor Wembanyama takes MVP honors. Big men rarely win this award at the All-Star game — it’s gone to a guard or wing in 13 of the last 15 years, with Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo as the lone exceptions — but Wembanyama is so competitive that he’ll gain an advantage just by taking the event seriously. In his first All-Star game last year, he led his team in scoring (11 points in seven minutes), and he and Chris Paul were disqualified for trying to exploit a loophole in the skills challenge.
Coach Álvaro Arbeloa admitted Jude Bellingham is “an important loss” after the midfielder was substituted just 10 minutes into Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano on Sunday. The club confirmed on Sunday evening that the issue was with Bellingham’s left hamstring.
Kylian Mbappé scored a 100th-minute penalty to give Madrid the three points in LaLiga after a tough game which saw Rayo’s Jorge de Frutos level after Vinícius Júnior‘s early goal, before the visitors had two players sent off.
The Bernabéu crowd whistled the team pre-match — and again as they struggled during the second half — after Madrid’s midweek defeat at Benfica in the Champions League.
“We don’t know about Jude yet,” Arbeloa said in his post-match news conference, when asked about Bellingham’s injury.
The England international had gone down clutching his thigh after chasing a ball down the right wing with the game still goalless, and after being consoled by teammates, limped off the pitch, looking visibly upset and wiping away tears, as he was replaced by substitute Brahim Díaz.
“[Bellingham] has made a great effort in every game since I’ve been here,” Arbeloa said. “It’s a very important loss, but we have an extraordinary squad.”
Bellingham will now undergo tests to determine the extent of the problem.
The 22-year-old’s injury could be a major concern for England boss Thomas Tuchel ahead of Wembley friendlies against Uruguay and Japan next month.
Bellingham was one of the players — alongside Vinícius — singled out by some fans with whistles before the game, as their names were announced on the stadium loudspeakers.
Bellingham has had an injury-hit season, missing the early part of the campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery last summer.
– Mbappé scores last-gasp penalty as Real Madrid edge Rayo
– Mourinho on Benfica-Madrid in UCL: We got the king
“I respect the Bernabéu crowd, and I’ll always ask for their support,” Arbeloa said, when asked about the whistles.
Arbeloa insisted that Madrid hadn’t been fortunate to be given nine minutes of added time at the end of the second half, with their winning penalty being awarded in the 98th minute, and Mbappé scoring two minutes later.
“It could have been more,” Arbeloa said. “Every time visiting teams take a goal kick here, it takes a minute.”
The coach admitted that his team need to be more consistent, after a difficult start to his time in charge.
“I’m not Gandalf the White,” Arbeloa said, referring to the fictional wizard. “What I’m getting is what I wanted from my players: commitment and effort.”
Information from PA was used in this report.
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