The Utah Jazz have positioned themselves well to get another high lottery pick. If they win the lottery pick, there's a solid case that they should take AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 pick. In fact, if they do, media personality and college basketball coach Doug Gottlieb believes it fits the profile of tampering.
During his appearance on "The Collin Cowherd Podcast", Gottlieb went off on the potential union between Dybantsa and the Jazz, saying that "there has never been a person that has ever been tampered with more than AJ Dybantsa to end up with the Utah Jazz."
Gottlieb even listed that the Dybantsa's affiliations with Utah Prep and BYU (both run by Ryan Smith) as proof of the tampering.
KSL Sports' Jake Scott and Ben Anderson dissected Gottlieb's words, explaining why he's off base.
Doug Gottlieb claims AJ Dybantsa is the most “tampered with” player in history due to the influence of Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith 👀 @JakeAndBenKSL review Gottlieb’s claims and break down why the former radio host is missing the mark with his accusation.#takenote #gocougs pic.twitter.com/QWafjaSVo3
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) April 1, 2026
Nothing that Smith has done has been confirmed as tampering. Also, there's no telling if Dybantsa will wind up with the Jazz, though we have a good idea of how sky-high expectations will be if they get their hands on him.
While neither he nor the Jazz have been in trouble for anything, they have had personnel who have flown too close to the sun with former highly regarded college prospects.
Danny Ainge has been fined for tampering-like actions
Technically, this happened almost two decades ago and back when Ainge in Boston, but he has tried to bend the rules a bit. Back in 2007, Kevin Durant was one of the most highly-touted prospects ever, and months before he was about to be drafted, Ainge was spotted conversing with Durant's family while he was playing for his alma mater, the University of Texas.
Ainge claimed he was just sitting where he was assigned, but the league didn't buy it, as he was fined $30k. Years later, it was Austin Ainge who then revealed that the Celtics would have taken Durant if they had gotten the No. 1 pick in 2007 (Durant went No. 2 behind Greg Oden).
So while Gottlieb's accusations toward Smith is rooted in nothing more than speculation and coincidences, the Jazz's front office has had a history of playing with fire when it comes to college prospects.
It would be quite a momentous union if Utah winds up with Dybantsa because of his history with Utah and because he could very well be the last piece of a Jazz dynasty, but there would be questions. Luckily in Smith's case, it would be nothing but a mere conspiracy theory, but Ainge's history would give that theory some legitimacy.