Nobody ought to be shocked that Mac McClung gained the dunk contest. If you’re a hoops fan, McClung has been within the public eye for a while now as a result of he can dunk properly sufficient to go viral. Add in that he’s a 6-foot-2 white man, and you’ve got a recipe for web fame.
Before I’m going any additional, I simply wish to say congrats to McClung. Seriously. That felt like watching somebody’s desires come true.
He was a three-star prospect popping out of highschool, spent two years at Georgetown, averaged 13 factors on 11 makes an attempt his freshman yr, and 15 on 13 pictures as a sophomore earlier than transferring to Texas Tech. After a junior marketing campaign of placing up 15 factors on 12 tries per recreation, McClung entered the 2021 NBA Draft and didn’t get chosen.
He hasn’t performed in an NBA recreation this season after showing in two video games a yr in the past, every for a distinct franchise. The Philadelphia 76ers simply signed him to a two-way deal, and I doubt we’ll see him get any actual run if he will get in a recreation in any respect.
However, he did this Saturday evening.
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That man is a professional dunker. Three of his four dunks received perfect scores, and the other missed out on a 50 by percentage points. The second time he jumped over people was kind of redundant, but he made everything on the first try. Considering what we’ve become accustomed to at what was once All-Star Weekend’s biggest event next to the game itself, this was a show.
There’ve been past weekends when the buzz from the dunk contest carried over to Sunday, and as a fan, it’s really special when that happens. If you can shock and awe NBA players, guys who see some of the greatest athletes on the planet night-to-night, then you have my attention and admiration.
And that leaves me at a loss. McClung is more YouTube sensation than professional basketball player, and I don’t know whether to be impressed or pissed. If the league wants to open up the dunk contest to amateurs, that’s fine. Let’s see what the And 1 hoopers are up to. McClung did a 540? So what. The Air Up There did a 720 dunk like a decade in the past. (“HE DID IT TWICE IN THE AIR!”)
The dying knell for the dunk contest sounded as soon as the most important names turned extra involved with preserving their picture than chancing embarrassment. I believed if anybody wouldn’t give a shit about that it’d be Ja Morant, however nope, he handed regardless of making an attempt to kill actual NBA facilities on a weekly foundation.
Even a rookie like Shaedon Sharpe, whose head eclipses the rim 3 times a recreation, spurned the chance. And, truthfully, who might blame them? Why threat getting upstaged by a man that’s six months away from solely being broadcast on TikTok?
Dame Time delivers in Utah
Damian Lillard turned the primary Portland Trail Blazer to win the three-point contest, and he did it in typical, clutch trend, ready till the final ball on the final rack to high former winner Buddy Hield.
It was just a little anticlimactic as a result of Tyrese Haliburton nonetheless had but to go, however he wasted all his juice on the 31 he posted within the opening spherical. Lillard performed school ball at Weber State, about 36 minutes north of Salt Lake City, and ingratiated himself additional to the house crowd by donning his Wildcats jersey together with his nickname “Dolla” on the again.