Rich Kleiman sits down with the No. 1 men’s college basketball player in the country to talk all things Boston, BYU, and business.
AJ Dybantsa, the 18-year-old phenom out of Boston, is focused. Despite his laidback demeanor and easy smile, Dybantsa talks with a sincerity and clarity that belies his age. And it’s not hard to understand why: He’s been on a mission to make it to the NBA since he was old enough to shoot a jump shot. Sitting across from Boardroom co-founder, Rich Kleiman, the young star is not shy about sharing one of his biggest inspirations—the guy he’s looked towards while on this journey: Kevin Durant. “He got easy buckets,” Dybantsa says. “He just made it look so easy.”
It may not be that surprising to hear that Dybantsa’s favorite player is KD. You can see a bit of Durant’s style in his game. But what was surprising to most following his career was his commitment to BYU. While the blue-and-white might not be the traditional destination for a top recruit, Dybantsa saw something different in Provo — a program building toward an NBA standard. “My ultimate goal is to go to the NBA,” he says plainly. After BYU hired former Phoenix Suns associate head coach Kevin Young, the Cougars began assembling an NBA-caliber infrastructure: a strength coach from the Milwaukee Bucks, a dietician from the Suns, a statistician from the Suns’ analytics team — even an offensive system modeled after what Young helped design in Phoenix. For Dybantsa, that meant one thing: preparation for the next level, not just the next season.
Throughout the conversation, Kleiman pushes past the hype to get to the core of what drives the nation’s top player — the toughness forged in Boston’s gyms, the humility of a kid who grew up playing both football and basketball, and the curiosity of someone studying how greatness works. Kleiman also learns the best piece of advice Dybantsa has received so far in his young career (Hint: It’s something Kevin Durant did that involves the interviewer). It’s clear Dybantsa isn’t following a blueprint. His decision to go to BYU isn’t about shock value. It’s about alignment. About fit. About finding a system that mirrors the goal he’s chasing. AJ Dybantsa’s story is refreshingly simple: work, growth, and the relentless pursuit of easy buckets.
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