History of BYU draft picks: A.J. Dybantsa set to join Jimmer Fredette, Shawn Bradley in Cougars NBA history

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Heading into this year's NBA Draft, AJ Dybantsa is comfortably one of the most exciting prospects. He holds his own in a class that features Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer, and many believe his career may exceed them, depending on which franchise drafts him.

Dybantsa certainly is walking into the Barclays Center's draft night as the most athletic prospect to come out of BYU. The school has had some intriguing draft prospects in the past, including Danny Ainge, Shawn Bradley, and Jimmer Fredette.

A question needs to be asked: How does Dybantsa compare to the best of his school's alumni who made it to the NBA?

Here's the list of players Dybantsa will join when his name is called on Tuesday night.

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BYU players in the NBA

After the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, the first BYU Cougar to be drafted into the NBA may have been the best all-around player from the school, Danny Ainge. Ainge won two NBA championships, both with the Boston Celtics in 1984 and 1986. Throughout his career, Ainge played in 193 NBA Playoff games, according to BYU, and he is 12th all-time in most playoff game appearances, per Basketball Reference. Since then, Ainge's career in the basketball world has continued in the front office first with the Celtics, and now he currently resides as the CEO of the Utah Jazz.

Another great BYU talent drafted into the NBA was Shawn Bradley in 1993. The 7-foot-6 big man is tied as the second-tallest player in league history, and his defensive statistics tell that tale. In college, Bradley averaged a staggering 5.2 blocks, according to Sports Reference. In the NBA, Bradley averaged 3.0 blocks or more from 1993-94 to 1996-97.

Here's the full list of former BYU players to be selected in the NBA Draft, according to Basketball Reference, since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976:

Draft	Name	Pick No.	Team	Career	Stats
2025	Egor Demin	8	BKN	2025-current	10.3 PPG, 3.3 APG, 3.1 RPG
2011	Jimmer Fredette	10	MIL	2012-19	5.9 PPG, 1.3 APG, 1.0 RPG
2004	Rafael Araujo	8	TOR	2005-07	2.8 PPG, 0.2 APG, 2.8 RPG
2003	Travis Hansen	37	TOR	2004	3.0 PPG, 0.4 APG, 1.7 RPG
1993	Shawn Bradley	2	DAL	1994-2005	8.1 PPG, 0.6 APG, 6.3 RPG
1989	Michael Smith	13	BOS	1990-95	4.9 PPG, 1.0 APG, 1.5 RPG
1984	Devin Durrant	25	IND	1985-86	5.0 PPG, 1.3 APG, 2.1 RPG
1983	Greg Kite	21	BOS	1984-95	2.5 PPG, 0.5 APG, 3.8 RPG
1982	Fred Roberts	27	MIL	1984-97	7.3 PPG, 1.2 APG, 2.8 RPG
1981	Danny Ainge	31	BOS	1982-95	11.5 PPG, 4.0 APG, 2.7 RPG

How AJ Dybantsa compares to BYU players in NBA

Heading into this year's NBA Draft, Dybantsa has a great shot of becoming the first BYU Cougar to be taken No. 1 overall. If he goes No. 2 overall to the Utah Jazz, he will be the highest-drafted BYU player since Shawn Bradley in the 1993 Draft.

Dybantsa almost certainly has the highest stardom ceiling heading into draft night. He will need to average higher than 11.5 PPG, 4.0 APG, and 6.3 RPG in order to have the best career averages from a former Cougar, numbers his college career already bested or is very close to. Regardless of which franchise Dybantsa gets drafted to at the top of this year's class, he will be viewed as a franchise cornerstone for years to come.

In 2011, Fredette was viewed as an electric shooter. However, his career did not pan out the way college fans had hoped for. Dybantsa's career will need to be north of 13 seasons in order to have the longest career of a former BYU player (Danny Ainge, 1982-95).

Here are Dybantsa's complete stats for his collegiate career, where he emerged as one of the country's best players and freshmen.