BOSTON – There was a passionate lifelong Boston Celtics fan sitting in Loge 6, Row 8, Seat 18 during Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday who should be playing on the same parquet floor in two years. The local kid, A.J. Dybantsa, also just happened to be ESPN’s No. 1 ranked high school basketball prospect in the Class of 2025. And Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown expect to be playing against him in the coming years.
“It’s great basketball. I’ve never been to a Finals game. The energy here is crazy. Boston is playing well so everything is good,” Dybantsa told Andscape at halftime of the Celtics’ 107-89 blowout win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Dybantsa was born on Jan. 29, 2007, in the Boston suburb of Brockton. His father, Anicet Sr., is originally from Brazzaville, Congo, and his mother Chelsea is from Jamaica. Dybantsa was a year old when Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and the Celtics won the franchise’s last NBA championship in 2008.
Growing up in New England, the 6-foot-9, 200-pound Dybantsa naturally was a fan of all of the local pro teams, especially the Celtics. He has attended Celtics games since he was a little boy.
“In Brockton, I grew up a Celtics fan,” Dybantsa said. “I came to a couple games where I got to see Paul Pierce, [Rajon] Rondo and Kevin Garnett. I’m honestly rooting for my team now. I’m honestly rooting for the best team.”
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Dybantsa was the 2022 Massachusetts Boys’ Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year for boys basketball after leading St. Sebastian’s School to a NEPSAC Class A State championship as a freshman. He moved across the country to play for prep school power Prolific Prep in Napa, California, with Class of 2026 No. 2 prospect Tyran Stokes the past two seasons. Dybantsa won a gold medal with the Team USA at the FIBA Americas Under-16 championship in Mexico in 2023 and starred for the World Team as a junior by scoring a game-high 21 points during the 2024 Nike Hoop Summit.
Dybantsa transferred to Utah Prep in the small town of Hurricane, Utah, for his senior year.
“I visited last week. The campus was great. We’re excited … ,” Dybantsa said. “My dad really handles all my recruiting stuff and he felt like it would be the best opportunity my senior year to achieve the goals I want to achieve.”
Dybantsa said he’s going to trim his list of 30 colleges down to seven in July, but it’s to be determined when he will pick one. Dybantsa also has NIL deals but no agent despite interest from all the giants of the basketball industry. He said his dad has lessened his stress by handling most of his recruiting and other basketball business.
While the teenager smiled when asked about his confidence, swag and outstanding skill set, and he was humble when asked about his No. 1 ranking.
“I don’t personally care,” Dybantsa said. “It’s good that I’m on there, but I don’t personally care about my ranking. It’s just a number. I’m not there [the NBA] yet. I’m not where I want to be yet. There have been No. 1s that have fallen off …
“I don’t know why people would get big-headed. I don’t know why people would think this and that if you haven’t made it yet.”
The Dybantsa Family
Dybantsa has already rubbed elbows with NBA stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Paul George and Jordan Poole. The 17-year-old joined the TNT Tip-Off set in Atlanta with former NBA players Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Dirk Nowitzki and host Ernie Johnson recently. But of all his NBA mentors, Dybantsa has leaned on Tatum and Brown the most.
“Obviously, I want to get to the league and they’re in the spot I want to be in,” Dybantsa said. “Them playing for Boston and me being from Boston, I’ve been able to ask them a couple questions. I’m not super-close with them, but they’ve been mentors for me. Every time they see me, they tell me to keep going, that I’m going to be [in the NBA] in a couple years and to keep my head straight. It’s been good.”
Dybantsa attended the 2023 Jayson Tatum Elite Camp in St. Louis, where NBA players Tatum, Chris Paul, Bradley Beal and Paolo Banchero and NBA rookies Cam Whitmore and Jett Howard were counselors. Dybantsa told Forbes that he and fellow high school stars Stokes, Cooper Flagg, Derrion Reid, Cam Scott and V.J. Edgecombe beat Tatum, Beal, Banchero, Whitmore and Howard in a scrimmage twice. Dybantsa said he has received tips from Tatum on scoring and creating space offensively at the small forward position.
“I’ve known him since he was a little kid,” Tatum told Andscape. “Good family. Good kid. He is the best player in high school. If he stays on the right path and keeps working, I’m going to be playing against him soon.”
A smiling Dybantsa also told Andscape he defeated Brown “1-0” in a one-on-one game. Brown smirked at that notion, saying Dybantsa made the one and only shot taken in the so-called one-on-one game after checking the ball.
So, how good does Brown think Dybantsa can be?
“It depends if he is a wing or if he’s a [power forward],” Brown told Andscape. “He has to keep working on his wing skills and he’s going to be all right. A.J. has to keep working on his game. If he is more of a [small forward], I think he is going to be perennial. He has to keep working on those ball skills.”
Dybantsa is expected to attend USA Basketball U-17 training camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from June 15-22. He is also playing for the renowned AAU Oakland Soldiers at the Peach Jam in July. The Soldiers’ alumni list includes James, 2024 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Chauncey Billups, 2023 NBA champion Aaron Gordon of the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets star Jalen Green and former NBA players Brandon Jennings, Kendrick Perkins, Chuck Hayes, Leon Powe, Eddie House and Drew Gordon.
“A.J. is not just trying to go play the game. He is trying to change the game. LeBron James and Aaron Gordon were the same way,” Oakland Soldiers president Mark Olivier told Andscape. “There are certain kids that want to change the game. I hear A.J. talk all the time and the way he articulates what he is saying, he gives you nothing but truth of how he sees it. He’s special.
“A.J. and Tyran Stokes, they got so much information and it bleeds onto the other kids on our team. If you look at how A.J. works out, he outworks everybody. It’s part of his African descent. He just loves the game. That one, he’s a superstar. He’s a great kid and very mature.”
Numerous fans recognized Dybantsa at halftime of Game 1. He acknowledged each fan who approached him and obliged those who asked to take a picture. Time will tell what type of NBA player Dybantsa can be, but on this night the high school phenom got to root for his Celtics in the Finals and dream bigger about being an NBA champion one day.
“I just texted my trainer that I need to be here in the NBA Finals in the next five years,” an excited Dybantsa said. “This is the top level of basketball. You can’t get any higher than this. The Hall of Fame is the highest level you can get. But in your NBA playing days, the Finals is the highest you can get.”