BYU forward AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 men’s basketball prospect in the class of 2025, said he spoke with Kevin Durant about Cougars head coach Kevin Young before taking an official visit with the school, per comments made to ESPN’s Myron Medcalf, who went in-depth about why Dybantsa landed in Provo, Utah.
Durant and Young crossed paths during the 2023-24 season, when KD was on the Phoenix Suns and Young was the team’s associate head coach. Naturally, Dybantsa wanted to know what KD thought about Young, and he got great reviews.
“I actually hit [Durant] up, just to ask him about [Young],” Dybantsa said. “He was like, ‘Yo, you’re going to [like] him, so just take the visit and see how you feel about it.'”
As Medcalf noted, Dybantsa considers Durant a mentor and friend, and he used to idolize KD during his high school days. Durant, of course, has been a superstar over his nearly two decades in the NBA, making 15 All-Star games and 11 All-NBA teams while winning a pair of NBA titles and earning the 2013-14 MVP.
Naturally, Durant’s opinion carried a lot of weight.
Dybantsa was happy with what he saw during his visit.
“Sure enough, when Dybantsa arrived, Young sold him on the ways BYU modeled itself after an NBA team—with real NBA professionals,” Medcalf wrote.
Things are going great for BYU right now, as the 3-0 Cougars have posted wins over Villanova, Holy Cross and Delaware to begin the season.
Dybantsa has averaged 18.7 points on 57.5 percent shooting, 7.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists along the way. He’ll led the No. 7 Cougars into a big matchup on Saturday when BYU plays No. 3 UConn in Boston.
