Paul Biancardi estimates '50/50' split of NBA scouts would draft AJ Dybantsa over Cooper Flagg

Through his freshman season at Duke, Cooper Flagg cemented his status as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. He leads the Blue Devils in every major statistical category and helped fuel their run to the Final Four this week in San Antonio.

But the hype is building around 2025 recruit AJ Dybantsa. In fact, ESPN’s Paul Biancardi estimated half the NBA scouts he talked to would take Dybantsa over Flagg atop this year’s draft if he was eligible to declare.

Dybantsa is getting ready to arrive at BYU as the No. 1 overall player from the 2025 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He put his skills on full display during Tuesday’s McDonald’s All-American Game, and the expectations are rising.

“I think it’s 50/50 right now, when I speak to the NBA scouts,” Biancardi said on the ESPN broadcast. “Half of them would take Cooper Flagg, the other half would take AJ Dybantsa.”

Fellow analyst Cory Alexander, though, argued it’s more of a 75/25 split based on what Flagg has done this season. A frontrunner for the Wooden Award as the National Player of the Year, Alexander pointed to Flagg’s improvement throughout the season while leading Duke to the Final Four as a reason he’d still take him over Dybantsa atop the draft. Before the year, though, Alexander said it was a different story.

“I believe that were the case before the season started,” Alexander said. “Right now, I think it’s more 75/25 Cooper Flagg. When you look at what he’s done against college competition – and again, I love AJ, nothing against AJ. But AJ hasn’t done what Cooper has done against college competition. You’re talking about the first-ever 30/5/5 game in Duke history in the NCAA Tournament. With the lineage that has happened with the Blue Devils, to have the guy that’s done that first, I believe that Cooper Flagg – and Cooper is a much better basketball player today than he was a year ago.

“I believe, coming into the year, we probably would’ve had that conversation. But the year that he’s had, the National Player of the Year most likely, will be first team All-Defensive team throughout country, the No.1-rated defensive player in college basketball. I think more teams would take that guy.”

Biancardi, however, noted one thing Flagg brings to the table Dybantsa doesn’t – at least, not yet. Flagg showed he can lift up the entire roster, and that will be something to watch as Dybantsa arrives at BYU.

“We have not seen AJ in college yet, so we need to have that [discussion] a year from now,” Biancardi said. “But what I do think is true is that Cooper makes everyone else better. He does that better than AJ Dybantsa.”