Meet AJ Dybantsa, 6ft 8ins high school basketball phenom aged 16 and already tipped to be NBA Draft top pick
HIGH school basketball phenom A.J. Dybantsa was obsessed with Spider-Man as a young child.
Now the 6-foot-8 wing is ready to take his super powers to the NBA after becoming part of the 2025 college recruiting class.
The 16-year-old seems destined for greatness in the NBA, having worked out in the off-season with All-Stars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Paul George.
The five-star prospect at Prolific Prep in Napa, California, has already fielded offers from top college programs such as Boston College, Alabama, Georgetown, Washington, UConn and Michigan, among others.
His stock rose over the summer after shining in the Nike Peach Jam and with USA Basketball in the FIBA U16 Americas Championship.
Dybantsa averaged 13.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while helping the US to a gold medal.
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He is vying with Cameron Boozer, the son of former NBA star Carlos Boozer, to become the top-ranked player for the class of 2025.
And Dybantsa will now be eligible for the NBA in 2026 and is the early favorite to be the No. 1 pick.
In the first four years of his life, though, Dybantsa showed no interest in basketball.
Instead, the Massachusetts native was obsessed by all things Spider-Man.
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“He had everything Spider-Man: socks, underwear, hat, jacket, you name it,” Dybantsa's father Ace told The Athletic.
“I tried to force [basketball] but I couldn’t, for the life of me.
“One day, I went to the store and came upon a little basketball goal, the kind you hang on your bedroom door, covered in Spider-Man graphics.
"I looked up to the sky and said, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’
"I brought it home, and his eyes lit up.
"I handed him a ball, and the rest is history. He fell in love.”
Dybantsa is hugely confident in his abilities and despite not having played a minute in the NBA, he has his sights set on the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
"Really, I feel like I can do a little bit of everything," he told KSR.
"I can play defense, I can make plays and I can score. I can do everything.
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“(I want to be) a Hall of Famer. Me and my trainer talk about it all the time.
"‘Hey, you want to be a Hall of Famer, right?’ That’s the goal.”