In a stacked draft class, BYU standout AJ Dybantsa is widely projected to be the No. 1 overall pick. The 19-year-old made his lone college season look easy, even breaking Kevin Durant’s Big 12 Tournament scoring record. Yet despite carrying an NBA-ready reputation, Dybantsa is still searching for answers about the next level. Watching stars like Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he saw a level of control and simplicity that made him rethink just how difficult the NBA really is.

Dybantsa attended the Lakers’ December matchup against Utah and watched Doncic finish with 45 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists, and five steals in a comeback victory. The stat line alone was historic. What caught his attention, however, was the ease with which Doncic controlled every possession.

“I watched Luka live, and that was probably the craziest single performance I’ve ever seen,” Dybantsa said. “It was a 45-point triple-double, and it was easy.”

The part that stayed with Dybantsa wasn’t the box score. It was the pace. Doncic never appeared rushed, never looked overwhelmed, and dictated the game entirely on his own terms. Only one other player in NBA history had previously recorded a 45-point triple-double with at least five steals, making the performance extraordinarily rare. Yet around the Lakers, the reaction felt almost routine.

Even LeBron James summed it up with a simple response afterward: “That’s Luka. Luka magic.”

To Dybantsa, it was the greatest individual performance he had ever seen live. To Doncic, it was simply another night at the office.

After the game, the Lakers star was asked about the performance and responded, “Honestly, I could do some more.” That reaction may have been the most revealing part of the entire night. A 45-point triple-double with five steals would stand as a career-defining game for most players. For Doncic, it barely cracks the list of his most memorable performances alongside outings like his 60-point triple-double against the Knicks and his 73-point explosion against the Hawks.

That contrast is exactly what fascinated Dybantsa. The gap between producing a historic stat line and treating it as routine offers a glimpse into the standards that separate NBA superstars from everyone else.

AJ Dybantsa eyes matchups, changes his NBA lens

With the draft now just weeks away, Dybantsa has already started thinking beyond draft night. The projected top pick recently revealed that Kevin Durant remains the player he most wants to face in the NBA.

“Easy answer, KD, him being my favorite player. I just want to guard him and be on the same court as him. Hopefully, LeBron’s still playing,” he said.

But the biggest change in his preparation has been his approach towards watching the NBA game. Dybantsa isn’t watching like the fan who was amazed at Luka Doncic’s 45-point triple-double. Instead, his focus is shifted to becoming a student of the game. He’s already speaking about defensive adjustments and minor cheats to make the game easier.

“Definitely, now watching the NBA is different from watching it before. I was watching it as a fan, but now I’m watching it like, alright, what spots are they choosing, how fast is the game moving, defensive schemes. I’m seeing like double teams, how LeBron is breaking them versus how KD is breaking them. How Shai is getting to his spots. So I’m kind of dissecting it where would I be,” AJ Dybantsa told Gilbert Arenas.

That shift from fan to student may be the most important part of Dybantsa’s preparation. Instead of simply admiring stars like Doncic, Durant, LeBron James, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he’s studying how they manipulate defenses, create advantages, and control games possession by possession.

For a prospect already viewed as one of basketball’s next franchise cornerstones, watching Luka’s masterpiece against Utah offered something more valuable than entertainment. It provided a blueprint for the level he hopes to reach once his own NBA journey begins.