Mac McClung ensured his place alongside the other legends in NBA dunk contest history by winning the event for the third straight time Saturday night.
McClung got perfect scores on all four of his dunks and was a clear favorite of the Chase Center crowd. His final-round victory came over Spurs rookie Stephon Castle, who registered a 99.6 score with two impressive slams of his own. Andre Jackson Jr. and Matas Buzelis were eliminated in the first round.
McClung brought some excitement to the event on his first dunk when he leaped over a car and threw the ball down behind his head. He followed that by jumping over his dunk coach for a twisting slam, then dunked two balls at once — one held by a friend on a spinning hoverboard and another by a man on a ladder — and finished off the night by jumping over 6’11” Evan Mobley (who was standing on a small platform) and touching the ball against the rim before slamming it home (video collection via YouTube).
At a press conference following the event, McClung deflected a question on whether the three-peat means he should be considered the greatest dunker of all time (Twitter video link from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic).
“I definitely don’t think that’s something for me to say,” McClung responded. “… I was just extremely honored to be part of this weekend. The biggest thing is I genuinely love this contest, and I’m very honored to be here and just very appreciative.”
McClung is on a two-way contract with the Magic and has only made one brief appearance in an NBA game this season. He plays for Osceola in the G League and has never been able to break through at the NBA level, getting into five total games with four teams since 2021.
McClung’s performance got the attention of other players around the league, including a couple of stars who hinted that they may consider participating in future dunk contests. Grizzlies guard Ja Morant tweeted, “Mac might make me decide to dunk,” and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo responded, “If you do it. I’ll do it with you,” later adding, “I just gotta to warm up for three weeks prior to the contest.”
Damian Lillard missed the chance for another three-peat on Saturday, being eliminated in the first round of the Three-Point Contest after winning the event the past two years. Tyler Herro claimed this year’s crown by a point over Buddy Hield, with Darius Garland finishing third.
“I was definitely nervous going into the first round. But I thought I shot it pretty well in the second round, and then Buddy had the chance to tie it at the end,” Herro told reporters, including Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “Obviously a great competition, a bunch of great shooters. … Also, it felt cold in the arena the first time I went. For the second time, I felt more loose going right away.”
Mobley teamed with fellow Cavaliers All-Star Donovan Mitchell to capture the Skills Challenge in the night’s first event.
Mac has made more money winning NBA all-star game dunk contests ($310k) than he has with his collective NBA career salaries ($132K).
That’s what I thought, but I looked it up last night and he’s making $2m this year for the Magic on a 2-way contract
I think it’s true as of the moment of him winning the contest, but at the end of this season it will be more due to that, yeah.
It’s wild how Mac has only 5 NBA games played and 3 dunk titles.
A full-season two-way salary is half the rookie minimum. For this season, that’s $578,577.
This was a nice dunk contest, Castle did great and Mac put on a show like always.
Has as many Dunk Contest wins as he does Games played in the last 3 years.
Every year, stars tease competing in the next years comp. Every year, they don’t.
Mac is a leaper though. Wow.
they turned mac mcclung into a clown at the circus all star game. give this side show bob a nba contract.
Side show bob wouldn’t play basketball. It would be beneath him.
Either there’s a shear passion drop from Mac to the average NBA player or the NBA put all their chips behind Mac…
The prop inequality was massive… Mac had the skills to win without it…
Prop inequality? I am pretty sure he asked for a car and if other had had that idea they would have done it too
All the other players have an actual season to play. If they clipped their foot on a car like Mac you know their agents and teams would be mad.
If they had asked…
Maybe…
However that brings into question how many dunk contests these contestants watched growing up…
Props win these contests because all the dunks have already been done…
Castle got robbed, at least on the first one, but Macs last dunk was his best one since probably the 1st year
Still, the last couple of years have been poor. I don’t know about the format, but I also think just hype is missing now, and nba Saturday overall just doesn’t feel like it used to at all…even the 3 point contest has been kind of whatever the last couple of years
More people like Castle, who actually wanted to be there, and can potentially put on a show, with sensibilities of what they should actually go for or not
Mac is kind of becoming his own gimmick, like when Nate Robinson just spammed all the props. He’s over with the fans, but that’s also at least partly b/c nobody else is
Castle’s dunk was nice, but Mac was getting perfect scores because he only needed 1 attempt to nail his dunks.
I agree largely with that take…
Mac certainly is a dunking talent, but the league needs players to take it seriously like Stephon did…
I actually think the fact that he made it a contest for the first time since LaVine vs Gordon is what is making waves within the player base more than anything else…
Surprisingly happy with the DC this year. Mac brought back the old school campy vibes. Embrace the corniness!
Who?
Wondering if being able to actually play basketball should be a requirement?
Eliminate the ridiculous props. Diminishes the skills and leaping ability. Castle was by far the more powerful and dynamic performer.
I haven’t watched anything to do with All star weekend in decades.
None of it has anything to do with the game I love.
Why isnt mcclung a full time nba player? He could be very decent off the bench for someone
He isn’t though. If he was smart he would join the Harlem Globetrotters.
He would get cooked every time on defense. Just switch to him, he also doesn’t play like a traditional pg that can move ball and get assist.
give him a chance tho
didnt he win g league MVP?
He did have chanced with Warriors and Lakers… 76ers too soo
It was dope. Sorry to all the haters that missed it.
Nothing was worse than spurs team in skills competition. SMH you know Wemby didn’t think that up but CP3 stunt. The all star weekend is for the fans not winning some trophy. shows why CP3 will never be a champion he only cares about himself not the team.
MOODY WAS ROBBED!!!
cavs players did a awesome job in the 2nd time around. Green needed to be perfect but wasn’t even close. Should have been Podz and Moody not Green.
100% agreed
Yeah that was terrible from CP3..
But hilarious that he got what he deserved and got DQ’d…
Was also hilarious to watch Draymond flail as “a great passer” and fail the passing section of the course…
We all knew the Warriors weren’t going to win because of his shooting, but to see him flop at the passing level was great…
Mac cheated on all of his dunks, every year.
Have you noticed that every dunk of his includes a person holding the ball in a weird position??
The cheat is that he gets more air time because he pushes off the person that’s holding the ball for him when he catches the ball.
If there are restrictions for all nba selections (65 games), then there should be restrictions for all star participation as well.
Regardless of the cheats, I thought Castle’s dunks were true 50’s. The difficulty level, originality, and the velocity in which the ball went through the net were all tremendous. Who cares if he doesn’t get it on the first attempt? You get 4 attempts, and that’s all there is to it. If anything, it’s more entertaining, and it gets harder as the attempts accumulate!
Watching Castle lose a basketball related contest to this little person was blasphemy. Time will tell how great castle will be, and how bad the dunk contest got! I didn’t think it could get worse than d-wade’s 9, but this stunt contest is pure basketball ignorance
@humps
that’s wack. Mac didn’t push off of anyone. he put on a great show making his drinks the first time bro
You have it all figured out don’t you lmao
Fell on his wiener while doing the same shenanigan we’ve seen dunk after dunk, and still got a 50
Mac is very good, but this is what he does. He isn’t an every day NBA player, he is a great league player but not making actual NBA roster. I still take VC as the greatest no props and they had forced teammate pass. Mac uses assistance on most of his.
Ja and other stars say the same sh every time. We all know yall are scared to compete and think it hurts your brand so shut up and do it, talk is cheap at this point.
It started with LeBron
Lebron has never been a creative dunker though. I know people wanted him because of the name, but his high school dunk contest wasn’t that exciting. His in games are powerful but he wasn’t doing more than a tomahawk.
I’m pretty sure LeBron also says he is the best dunker all time so I’m sorry bro. He didn’t want to do it because he is all by himself with nobody to blame. Plus all that pressure he shrinks. He never wants to look bad(no post defense because he is scared someone will dunk on him making him look bad) LeBron has had the easiest career(than anyone ever) r in the easiest era while playing everything safe. He is number 8 all time to me
What excuse did you give him again for not doing a dunk content? You know I am right
Since these SUPERSTARS are scared to do it because they never want to feel losing or told be told no.
Let’s rename the dunk content to The Mac Dunk contest
3-peat, this guy is definitely winning an MVP soon!