Days after FIBA U19 selection, BYU rookie AJ Dybantsa features on latest cover of Men's Health magazine

BYU Cougars star AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1-ranked prospect of the Class of 2025 according to ESPN, arrived on campus last month to start training with his new team. Last week, Dybantsa was named to the Team USA roster that will compete at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Lausanne, Switzerland, from June 28.

Away from the court, the $4.1 million NIL-valued Dybantsa (as per On3) was featured on the Men's Health magazine cover. The announcement was made on the magazine's Instagram page on Thursday and was captioned:

"AJ Dybantsa has come a long way since picking up his first basketball at age 5. Today, his game—a mix of above-the-rim finishing, midrange shotmaking, and elastic defense—is already at a pro level. And as the top-rated basketball recruit, he set his sights on winning the national championship with the Brigham Young University Cougars.

"Find out more about the projected number-one pick of the 2026 NBA draft and 24 other Gen Z athletes who make up the MH25 and are defining the future of sports."

Dybantsa is ranked No. 1 among college basketball stars and No. 4 overall in the On3 NIL 100 rankings.

AJ Dybantsa praised for Team USA practice performance

Clips from Team USA's FIBA Under-19 World Championship training in Colorado have gone viral, with the competitive AJ Dybantsa the outstanding player in most of them. After Wednesday's training session, On3 analyst Jack Pilgrim lavished praise on the BYU Cougars star for his performances vis-à-vis his teammates.

"Down big in the final minutes of the afternoon session scrimmage, the BYU signee single-handily led his team back to victory with not one, not two, but three separate clutch buckets with defensive stops and forced turnovers to pull it off," Pilgrim said. "The one kid in the gym with nothing to prove.

"No. 1 in his class, all of the NIL money in the world, likely No. 1 draft pick in 2026 was screaming to his teammates to pick up 94 feet with defensive call-outs and counting down each second on the inbounds begging for a violation.

"He was obsessed with earning what amounts to a meaningless scrimmage win in a training camp he could have skipped entirely and still made the final 12-member 2025 FIBA World Cup roster."

The talented AJ Dybantsa already has extensive international experience. Dybantsa won two gold medals as part of the Team USA rosters for the FIBA U16 Americas Championship and the FIBA U17 World Cup last year. In the World Cup, he averaged 14.1 points on 58.7% shooting from the floor, 3.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.