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AJ Dybantsa - the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2025 as per On3's industry rankings - will be heading to the BYU Cougars next season. Dybantsa - who announced his commitment to the Cougars on Dec. 10, 2024 - concluded an impressive high school basketball career on Saturday at the 2025 Jordan Brand Classic.
The 6-foot-9 forward shared a playful birthday message for his father - Ace Dybantsa - as he uploaded a story on his Instagram account:
"bruh this dude 58, happy birthday my dawg!! literally taught me everything ik," Dybantsa captioned the story with two laughing emojis and a finger crossed emoji.
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The father-son duo was seen together visiting BYU before Dybantsa signed for the Cougars. In a video uploaded by the famous basketball page SportsCenter NEXT on Apr. 2, AJ Dybantsa was seen working at McDonald's, handing out a drive-thru order:
"The No. 1 recruit is embracing the McDonald’s All-American Game 🍔🍟," the post's caption read.
His father - Ace Dybantsa who is an ex-employee at McDonald's - discussed the reason behind the experience in the video:
"Just how to give back to the community,” Ace Dybantsa said. “I wanted to show him what it is to have a good job. He spent about two hours there — I don’t think he wants to go back.”
Three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas commented under the post:
During an interview in the McDonald's All-American Game, the 58-year-old also talked about how Spider-Man got the 6-foot-9 forward into basketball. The video was posted by a user on X (formerly Twitter):
"AJ Dybantsa's dad shares unique way he got Dybantsa into playing," he posted.
"Spider-Man. I bought him a Spider-Man hoop, and he fell in love with it," he said.
AJ Dybantsa's efforts not enough as his side faces defeat in the 2025 Jordan Brand Classic
Dybantsa was accompanied by other top prospects - including Houston Cougars signee Chris Cenac, Arkansas Razorbacks signee Meleek Thomas, and Duke Blue Devils signee Nikolas Khamenia among others - in Team Flight's roster for the 2025 Jordan Brand Classic on Saturday.
Dybantsa scored 25 points on 10-for-19 shooting, including 2-for-7 from beyond the arc and converted 3-of-4 of his shots from the charity stripe. Dybantsa also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out three assists in 27 minutes.
However, it was not enough as Team Flight suffered a 141-124 defeat against Team Air.
Dybantsa will be joined by Xavion Staton and Chamberlain Burgress next season.
