- 9 minutes ago
The Wizards selected AJ Dybantsa first overall last night. Grant & Danny detail the plan the Wizards' front office has gone through to get to this point.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Everybody else was doing a different thing last night.
00:02And they should have been.
00:03A.
00:05J.
00:08Devonsa.
00:09We've got ourselves.
00:11One of them once.
00:12I was doing, because the World Cup's taken over,
00:14and what's on your mind is all the different songs.
00:17You know, the Scottish Army or the Tartan Army or whatever,
00:20then England makes fun of them, and everyone's got a song.
00:22I've been doing my own, like, we've got A.J., we've got A.J.,
00:25I just don't think, you understand, while I'm showering,
00:27just yelling, making up different things.
00:29It's actually a great bit.
00:30I'm doing all those bits, and they end up with cursing.
00:31But the point is, I'm having such a good time with it.
00:34A.J. Devonsa's here.
00:35The realization keeps hitting me every once in a while.
00:38The dude that I coveted is here in town.
00:40So the draft party last night was amazing.
00:42I've got to say, it was a blast to be a part of that.
00:45I have all day long really been reveling in how just joyous that night was.
00:51I've been a part of nights like that working for this radio station.
00:55They have never been about the Wizards, really.
00:57They've been about, at different points, the Capitals during their Cup run
01:00or the Nationals during a World Series run
01:03or when we're doing some big event at the Anthem for a gala or something.
01:06They have been about the Commanders off and on for varying things.
01:11They've never been about the Wizards.
01:13Thousands of people at the Anthem last night.
01:15Probably 5,000-some people.
01:17I'll bet you there have been games at Capital One Arena the last few years
01:20where if you're just counting Wizards fans, not the people that are there to see LeBron
01:24or Steph or Kawhi or something, there haven't been that many people at Wizards games potentially.
01:29I didn't even know they existed.
01:31Where did all of these people come from?
01:33What a cool jersey you're wearing and you're wearing.
01:35And I remember that player.
01:36It was an awesome night.
01:39From start to finish, the energy was great.
01:42There was an electricity at the Anthem and it was so obvious, Danny.
01:46I thought, based on our call volume, based on things we were seeing on social media,
01:50I thought it was kind of like 55-45 with fans wanting the Bonsa over Peterson.
01:56I'll say at least at the draft party, and maybe this is just because all the momentum
02:00the last 24 hours went toward the Bonsa, there was a king that needed to wear a crown
02:06and then everyone else was just kind of invited to the party to kiss his ring.
02:10Every time they showed AJ on the screen, in the 20 minutes or so before he was drafted,
02:15the place went nuts.
02:17Have you ever been in a game where there's like a kid trying to be the fan of the night
02:22and they show the kid and everyone's like,
02:25Yeah, the kid takes his shirt off and is beating his chest.
02:27And then they show the next guy dancing is just like a 40-year-old guy.
02:30He's doing good dance moves.
02:31But you're a grown-up.
02:32And so it goes from like,
02:36And then they show the kid again.
02:38That was, it would show the Bonsa, and then they would show Peterson.
02:41And then they would show the Bonsa.
02:43And that's the vibe of the room.
02:46And then when the Wizards were on the clock at number one and they made their pick,
02:49there was a little bit of question.
02:51Is there any way they shock anyone?
02:53Because this group works in the shadows.
02:55Nobody really knows what they're going to do.
02:57And they announced A.J. DeBonsa's name and the roof blew off.
03:02With the first pick in the 2026 NBA draft,
03:07the Washington Wizards select Anise DeBonsa Jr.
03:11from Brigham Young University.
03:14Now, I will say, I don't know how many people had heard Anise.
03:17I had not.
03:18C.K. actually said this to me.
03:20He's like, oh, my God, my heart skipped a beat.
03:22And I saw Barstool Nate tweet this.
03:24It was a hilarious tweet where he's like, I got to be honest.
03:28Adam Silver, you just scared the crap out of me.
03:30Like, just say A.J.
03:31Because everyone's waiting for that first syllable.
03:33It's got to be, he's going to just say A.
03:35And if it's not, it could be anything.
03:36And he says Anise.
03:37And everyone's like, oh, my God.
03:39They took some random dude from, you know, the European League or whatever.
03:43What in the hell just happened?
03:44They did it.
03:45They shocked everyone.
03:46They took the guy that was 18th on the board.
03:48And then he said DeBonsa Jr.
03:49And nobody reacted at Anise.
03:51And everyone went crazy at DeBonsa.
03:53At DeBonsa.
03:54There was a brief moment.
03:55I went, because I'm in the press box trying to get it hooked up.
03:59I had to, like, wait for my wife to text me back the login so I could watch my Cox
04:04Mobile from my computer up there.
04:06And so when I finally got it, like, it was moments before Adam Silver made the pick.
04:10And when he said the A-N, not A-J.
04:14So he went on.
04:15I went, oh, okay.
04:17Like, it was brief, but it was a moment.
04:20I think there was a little pitter-patter.
04:22Everybody's heart kind of skipped a beat.
04:24Because you're clinging to not the word, the syllable.
04:28Like, you know what you're listening for.
04:30And then he goes, Anise.
04:32And I'm, like, scrolling down my draft board.
04:34I'm like, wait, who?
04:35A what?
04:36Oh, DeBonsa, right.
04:37Okay, the guy, yeah.
04:37Apparently, so that's the name, obviously, is Junior.
04:39He shares with his father, who goes by Ace.
04:42And he asked Adam Silver.
04:43He said he wanted to be referred to as Anise DeBonsa.
04:48I thought that was really cool.
04:49Because his dad is the reason, in his opinion, that he's where he is.
04:53His father is instrumental in his life.
04:55I found that really touching.
04:56The other thing I heard that I thought was awesome, DeBonsa did not want to be called
05:01by the Wizards before the pick.
05:03In fact, he gave his phone to his dad so that no one could talk to him, text him, call
05:08him,
05:09tell him you're the guy.
05:10His agent couldn't reach out to him.
05:11He wanted to find out when Adam Silver said a name.
05:15I think that is awesome.
05:17He wanted to know when we all knew.
05:20And so, quite literally, he said, Dad, just take my phone.
05:23No one can reach me.
05:24And if you're at the table, like the family, no one's going for their phones.
05:27No one's calling us.
05:28The Wizards know.
05:29So if someone calls you to notify you that you're being selected, either no one answers it or dad does?
05:34Well, I don't think Dad did either.
05:36He wanted to find out by the commissioner saying either Darren Peterson or Anise DeBonsa Jr.
05:44I think that's admirable.
05:45It's like the folks that when they find out that the mom's pregnant and they're like, we don't want to
05:50know.
05:51You're going, what do you mean you don't want to know?
05:52Don't you have to know immediately?
05:54Don't you 100% need to know?
05:55And they're like, nope.
05:56Whenever baby is born, then we'll find out.
05:59Like, oh my God, I can't imagine.
06:00Who are the people that can do that?
06:03I only know a couple that have done it that way.
06:06I have a friend who he and his wife did that.
06:09I admire it.
06:10I think it's the most insane thing in the world.
06:12I think it's insane.
06:12You're a crazy person.
06:14They literally wait until the baby comes out of the mom to look at the child that they've just brought
06:21into the world to say, it's a boy.
06:23And someone tells you that as they hand you this baby.
06:27What?
06:28What is my question to that?
06:29You just went nine plus months not knowing?
06:32I can't imagine.
06:33The instant you can know, I'd have to know.
06:35Whatever it is, I have to prepare myself.
06:37You know what I mean?
06:38Like, infinite preparation is needed.
06:40We've had so much practice at this.
06:41I was going to say, there's so many kids for you to have done this.
06:43Did you never find out once?
06:44Oh my God, dude.
06:46Did your wife not want to find out once?
06:48She knows it's not possible.
06:50Right.
06:50The thing that she did after maybe the second kid is she said, I'm not going to tell you that
06:56we're pregnant because you immediately, A, tell everyone as soon as you find out.
07:02And B, need to know the gender as soon as possible.
07:05And like, we shouldn't be doing that.
07:06We got to wait till X amount of weeks.
07:08Sure, sure, sure.
07:09But the last time we did this thing, now you can send off like this non-invasive test at like
07:15three minutes.
07:16Like three minutes in to being pregnant, they'll tell you what the gender is at like a 99% rate
07:20because science is so amazing.
07:22And so we did that.
07:23But, yeah, I can't wait.
07:26There's no waiting.
07:26Just generally.
07:27My patience is not great.
07:28And you're also like an investigator at heart.
07:31Like you are a detective.
07:32I'm a curious person.
07:34Yes.
07:34I'm a detective.
07:35I solve many crimes.
07:39Or mysteries, because this one isn't a crime.
07:41This is just, it was one or the other, right?
07:43And you're determining that.
07:44It's a mystery.
07:45It's left out there for you.
07:46Money is gone that could have been there.
07:49Oh, I see.
07:50That makes it.
07:50Oh, tangentially.
07:52Yes.
07:52Aiding and abating or something.
07:54Something like that.
07:54Mm-hmm.
07:55Did you hear the call from Will Dawkins to A.J. DeBonsa last night?
08:00There's never been a call from GM to player that was less like an executive telling a player you're coming
08:08to our team than this.
08:10And what I mean by that is, in the best way possible, these guys have an exceptional rapport.
08:15Mm-hmm.
08:16When I heard that call, I now know that what I speculated is true.
08:22They have known it was A.J. DeBonsa since the second that they won the lottery.
08:28They're from the same area.
08:30Mm-hmm.
08:30He knows the family.
08:31Like, he said on the Junkies at some point a long time ago, I think it might have been right
08:35after they won the lottery, that he's known the family and known DeBonsa since he was a kid.
08:40You can hear it in this phone call.
08:42Compare this.
08:42I'm not trying to knock DQ or Adam Peters or something.
08:44But, like, compare this to Peters calling Antonio Williams, who he's talked to twice for four minutes or something.
08:51You know what I'm saying?
08:52Like, listen to this call.
08:53It's just a guy talking to a neighbor that he's known since he was four playing basketball next to his
08:59house.
09:00Yes, sir.
09:02Yes, sir.
09:03Finally official.
09:04Finally official.
09:05Finally official.
09:06Hey, congratulations, man.
09:07That hat look good on you, though.
09:09I know it does.
09:11What suit is it?
09:12You didn't tell me.
09:12What you got?
09:13What you rocking?
09:14Tenzo, all black.
09:15I knew the hat was going to be black.
09:17I went all black, and I fit the mean rainbow face on the watch.
09:20That's tough.
09:21That's tough.
09:21How you feeling, man?
09:23Sorry.
09:24It's a surreal feeling.
09:24I feel just blessed.
09:26Thank you all so much.
09:27Man, you've earned this, man.
09:28From where you started to where you're at right now, man, your family, everybody should be proud.
09:32I talked to the fans here.
09:33They are so happy, bro.
09:35They just want to welcome you in open arms.
09:37Get you back on the East Coast where you belong.
09:39I can't wait to get there.
09:40It's going to be late.
09:41We got a bunch of people there.
09:43Take care of you tonight.
09:44We'll connect after you get to your party and do all your fun stuff, and I'll see you when you
09:48land tomorrow.
09:48Sounds good.
09:50All right, man.
09:50Congrats again.
09:51Appreciate it.
09:52Welcome.
09:53All right.
09:55So that's Will Dawkins and AJ DeBonce.
09:57It's like congratulating somebody that is going to finish high school next week or something.
10:01It's like a nephew.
10:02But you hear that rapport that I'm talking about?
10:05That's a real relationship they've built in this process, obviously, already.
10:10Some of that is that Will Dawkins is just a stud.
10:13He's got an EQ where he's one of these guys.
10:16You meet him once, and you think you're really good friends with him.
10:20I saw him at training camp.
10:22He was hanging out, went to a practice last year, and I hadn't seen him since I was at a
10:28Wizards game,
10:28and he came into the suite when we were at 106.7, the fan night.
10:33They had us all out, and he came by and kicked it with us for a quarter or two.
10:36And that was like a couple months earlier, and I saw him at training camp.
10:39And I basically went up to like dap him up like, Will, what's good, man?
10:43How you?
10:43Like we just had dinner the night before.
10:44Sure, sure, sure.
10:45And he just played along, but I realized after, I'm like, what is he thinking right now?
10:52Because think about how many tens of thousands of people he's met and left an impression with.
10:57Everybody that wants to know him because he's the gatekeeper as a GM.
11:00But he is that guy.
11:01You think you're tight with him just because he's so personable and relatable.
11:06I'm just smitten with the front office.
11:08I saw Winger last night.
11:09He couldn't be a better, nicer dude.
11:12I say this a couple days after they gave out an extension to Trae Young that I didn't even like
11:16that much.
11:16I understand why they did it and how we got here.
11:19I don't hate it.
11:19I just, 212 for me for Trae Young is, that is a tough sell, my friend.
11:25But their batting average is so high.
11:27They have done this so effectively and proficiently.
11:30They're on such a heater on this rebuild that Elf style, I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't
11:36care who knows it.
11:37Like, this front office has given me hope again in basketball that I haven't had in a long time.
11:43Indeed.
11:43Yeah, whether you like a move or not, individually, I think that's healthy and fun and that's sports debating.
11:52Right?
11:52That's kind of what we're supposed to be doing at the end of the day.
11:54Anyway, the confidence that I have when I tuck myself in that little bed at night and I snuggle that
12:00sheet and that blanket up just so is there's a plan.
12:04There's a thoughtful, coherent plan.
12:07And if that one goes awry for whatever reason, there's a plan B, there's a plan C.
12:11Everything is thoughtfully done versus the haphazard fly-by-night, let's just see if this works kind of a thing.
12:19And then let's have a new paradigm every six months, whatever that is.
12:23Everything makes sense.
12:25They're basically right now in a phase of we are going to gather a bunch of young pieces together, pair
12:30them with some veterans, and see what shakes out.
12:33Right now, we're having fun going, is Keyshawn George a two?
12:36Is he going to be kind of moved to shooting guard instead of the small four down with the bonsa?
12:40Or is there a big guy coming next to Saar?
12:43Or what's going to happen with Anthony Davis?
12:44We're having fun doing that.
12:45Maybe Trey Johnson emerges, maybe he doesn't.
12:47Maybe Bob Carrington turns into a really good player playing alongside Trey Young or backing up Trey Young.
12:53We don't know yet.
12:54I don't know that they do either, but that's okay.
12:56They're still in this brilliant phase of not giving up too much, not overextending themselves, building towards something special.
13:05Now, the hardest moves, the hardest levers to pull are going from not from bad to okay, and not even
13:11from okay to pretty good.
13:12It's how do you get to great?
13:14And that's something this franchise simply has not done in my lifetime.
13:17That's the really hard part, but you're building the pyramid to greatness right now by adding probably, and hopefully, the
13:24best player on your team for the next 10 years in this kid.
13:26I love it.
13:28I didn't do this last night.
13:30I wanted to, but I got home too late and was too tired, so it'll probably be something I do
13:34today or tomorrow.
13:36But I went back and jotted down a couple of the games I want to find in their entirety to
13:40watch of A.J. DeBonce.
13:42He scored 40 twice this past season.
13:44He scored 35, a total of, I think, eight times last season.
13:49But that 40.9 rebounds, six assists game against Kansas State in the tourney when his team scored 105, or
13:56the 43-point season high performance against Utah that he had on his way to leading BYU to 91 points.
14:05I can't wait to just go back and watch those games in their entirety to see what we're about to
14:11be spoiled with.
14:12But we'll open up the phones for you guys.
14:13I want to hear from you about your excitement level.
14:16A.J. DeBonce to the pick.
14:18Feels like much ado about very little.
14:20Darren Peterson, the rest of the draft class, maybe this was written in the stars a long time ago.
14:27How do you feel about DeBonce to D.C.?
14:30800-636-1067.
14:32Also, I mentioned the draft show that I was a part of last night with the Junkies.
14:35Uh-huh.
14:36Their draft special over at the Anthem.
14:38John Wall joined us after the pick.
14:41He was great.
14:42He gave some strong opinions.
14:44Talked about what Trey Young needs to do to make this work.
14:47I want people to hear what he said about that.
14:51Also, he gave his starting lineup and how the rotation should work with the vision of DeBonce being heavily involved.
14:57This was after the pick last night, so you'll hear from Wall as soon as we return next on G
15:01&D here on The Fan.
Comments