AJ Dybantsa was just on the cover of SLAM magazine. Here’s what he and his father said about BYU

AJ Dybantsa’s star continues to rise.

BYU’s heralded freshman landed on the cover of famed basketball magazine SLAM this week — a rarity for a college player, let alone one who has yet to play in his first collegiate game.

The wait is over.

Ready to elevate BYU to the peak of the college basketball world, AJ Dybantsa covers SLAM 259. https://t.co/kbgjPzan23pic.twitter.com/MzGm8s50Rh

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) October 16, 2025

Accompanying the magazine cover was an in-depth feature story on Dybantsa. Here are some of the notable quotes from Dybantsa’s cover story.

Dybantsa’s father, Ace, on the financial aspect of the recruiting process

“The funny thing is that we never told him how much money any of the schools were offering. We wanted to go about the recruiting process very differently from others.

“My wife and I decided not to tell him because we didn’t want money to be a factor in his decision. So, he came into my room one day and said, ‘Dad, I’m going to BYU.’ I said, ‘What?!’ He repeated, ‘I’m going to BYU.’ Then I asked him, ‘Why BYU?’ He goes, ‘KY — Coach Kevin Young.’ He said, ‘Dad, I want to be a pro. He came from the pros. He coached one of my favorite players, Kevin Durant. He coached (Devin Booker), he coached (Chris Paul).’

“AJ reached out to Kevin Durant to ask about KY. Coach brought an analytics staffer from the Suns, he brought the nutritionist from the Suns, the strength and conditioning coach came from the Milwaukee Bucks. He’s like, ‘Dad, I’m going to BYU.’

“Not only did he not know how much money each school was offering, but he also didn’t even end up picking the school that was offering the most money. There were schools that offered more. If it was about the money, we could’ve just went to BYU and said, ‘Hey, so and so is offering this much more,’ just to get more money for AJ to come here. All these crazy numbers were being thrown around in the media but people don’t even know — AJ knows now what he got, but people just wanted to speculate.”

Dybantsa on why he chose BYU

“Obviously, there are big expectations, but I chose BYU because of the culture and the coaches, so it was more so playing basketball at the school I wanted to go to and that wanted me.

“We’re trying to get it rowdy in here. We’re trying to have the fans popping. We’re trying to get it very exciting, very loud in the gym. That’s our goal.”

Dybantsa on Jimmer Fredette and other BYU influences

“I talked to Jimmer, I talked to Danny Ainge, and even a couple of our staff members that have played at BYU, so I got some insights from them on what it’s like … They were just saying that we have some of the best, if not the best, fans in the country, and we really gotta embrace it and use it to the best of our abilities.

“When you commit here, you know you have to watch Jimmer highlights. He DM’d me after I committed. He followed me and texted me, congratulated me. I then went to do my research. I looked up Jimmer highlights. You hear about Jimmermania, so I said, let me go watch with my two eyes. Bucket. Shot is cash … Hopefully he can come to a couple of our games and I can pick his brain a little bit more.”

Dybantsa on living in Provo

“When I first got here, even on my visit, it didn’t feel real because you look outside and there are mountains everywhere and snow on top of the mountains. It doesn’t even look real, but it’s just a beautiful place to be.”

Dybantsa on what he hopes to accomplish at BYU

“I want to be remembered here as a person that came in embracing the culture, embracing the fans, but on the court, a player that came to win (and) gave the crowd a very exciting show … It’s going to be an exciting season — (I) hope they’re ready.”