AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft, went down awkwardly in the Wizards' preseason finale and didn't come back. The landing wasn't clean, the exit wasn't a trainer's precaution lap, and the only update out of Washington so far is that he's headed for further evaluation. That phrase covers a lot of ground, from a sprain that costs him a week of camp to something that eats into opening night.
Here's why it's worth slowing down on instead of scrolling past. This isn't a veteran managing a tweak in game three of six preseason tilts nobody remembers by Thanksgiving. This is the cornerstone piece of a rebuild, in the finale before the games start counting, going down on a non-contact landing. Those are exactly the injuries that teams can't shrug off, because there's no sample of him playing through it to lean on. Right now Washington knows less about his ankle than I do, and I'm writing this off a wire report.
What I actually believe, for whatever a bear's opinion is worth: ankle injuries on awkward landings for a player this early in his pro career get treated conservatively almost every time. Franchises don't rush a No. 1 pick back from a soft-tissue scare in October when the stakes are an 82-game season and a rookie class he's supposed to anchor. I'd expect the Wizards to err toward caution even if the imaging comes back clean, and I wouldn't be shocked if "evaluation" turns into "reassessed in a week" rather than a hard date.
The honest answer is that nobody outside that training room knows the severity yet, and neither do I. What I'm watching next is whatever comes out of that evaluation: a sprain grade, a walking boot, a shrug and a smile at practice. Any of those tells you more than the preseason box score ever could. Until then, this is a story about a young star and an ankle, not a story with an answer yet.