New NBA Draft Rumors on Wizards' Potential Pursuit of 'Godfather' Trade Offer for No. 1 Pick

As the Washington Wizards continue to weigh their options at the top of the 2026 NBA draft, one potential consideration for them is moving down if another club wants to pay a steep price.

Per ESPN's Brian Windhorst, rival teams expect the Wizards will remain guarded about their plans with the No. 1 pick in order to "draw out a possible godfather offer" for that selection.

ESPN's Shams Charania and Jeremy Woo reported on Monday the Wizards have already conducted pre-draft visits with AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson.

Charania and Woo also noted Peterson doesn't plan to take visits with any other clubs, which other teams in the lottery have taken "note" of one week out from the start of the draft.

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman dropped a new mock draft on Tuesday that has Dybantsa going No. 1 to the Wizards, though it was noted the team has "remained very tight-lipped" about which direction they will go.

Windhorst didn't specify what would constitute a "godfather" offer for the Wizards to consider moving down, though it would seem unlikely they want to move down too far and miss the opportunity to land a potential impact player.

The 2026 draft seems to be regarded as having three star prospects in Dybantsa, Peterson and Cameron Boozer, then several very good players like Caleb Wilson, Keaton Wagler and Darius Acuff Jr.

In a recent mailbag, The Athletic's Josh Robbins responded to a question about the Wizards potentially trading down by pointing out the "prevailing opinion" among team officials is two prospects have "separated themselves from everyone else."

This would seem to suggest even if the Wizards make a trade, they would only do it to move down one spot. The Utah Jazz, who own the No. 2 pick, could be enamored with Dybantsa.

Dybantsa finished his high school career playing in Utah, then played in college at BYU last season. Jazz governor Ryan Smith, a BYU alum, is a significant contributor to the Cougars' NIL fund and helped secure Dybantsa's commitment to the school.

The Jazz do have extra draft capital to play with, including extra first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, if they want to try enticing the Wizards into making a deal to ensure they get their choice of players at the top of the draft.

All of the questions will be answered on June 23 when the first round of the 2026 NBA draft takes place from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.