AJ Dybantsa is set to make his long-awaited NBA debut on Wednesday against the Cavaliers, the Wizards announced.
The No. 1 overall pick in June’s NBA draft has missed the Wizards’ first four games of the regular season after rolling his left ankle in the preseason finale against the Pelicans on Oct. 16.
Wizards coach Brian Keefe has listed his 6-foot-9 rookie as “day-to-day” since then, and he told reporters before Monday’s loss in Charlotte that Dybantsa would rejoin the team Tuesday in Cleveland and do some on-court work before being reevaluated.
While he was out, Dybantsa was mostly seen working out on an exercise bike at the Wizards practice facility and Capital One Arena.
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The Wizards are 2-2 without Dybantsa, with wins over the Bucks and Bulls (two teams not expected to be in the playoffs) and losses to the Raptors and Hornets (both of which have talented rosters).
But the Cavaliers are a notch above both the Raptors and Hornets, having reached last season’s Eastern Conference finals. Dybantsa’s first game will be an immediate test for the 19-year-old rookie and a gauge of how the Wizards stack up against one of the NBA’s best rosters.
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