Mac McClung flashes perfect score, pulling off historic third straight NBA dunk contest win

New York Times

16-02-2025

SAN FRANCISCO — He may still not be a household name, nor is he really an NBA player, but Mac McClung can now say he is the greatest dunk champion in league history.
McClung, 26, who plays for the Osceola Magic in the NBA G League and played in just one game for the Orlando Magic this season, became the first player in dunk contest history to win the event three years in a row — pulling off a perfect score of 200 with four dunks not quite seen before and beat San Antonio rookie Stephon Castle in an entertaining final round to finish off All-Star Saturday night at the Chase Center.
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McClung jumped over a car. And Evan Mobley. He contorted his body in strange ways while already in mid-air, and dunked two balls at the same time when he began the attempt with his hands empty.
So you can say the field was lighter compared to past dunk contests, but in the first such event in the Bay Area since Vince Carter's historically grand performance in Oakland, in 2000, McClung was by far the best dunker on the court and will be remembered forever for what he did at the Chase Center, and for being able to win three years running.
Only Nate Robinson had won three dunk contests before McClung, but Robinson's wins were not consecutive.
McClung's night began with him taking the court to 'Return of the Mac,' an appropriate title given his name and prowess as repeat champion. For his first dunk, organizers backed a Kia sedan onto the court and parked it in front of the basket. Yes, dunkers have jumped over cars before (Blake Griffin in 2011), but McClung not only jumped over the car — he also pulled the ball off of a friend's head, who was standing through the sun roof.
MAC MCCLUNG ARE YOU KIDDING ⁉️🤯@Kia | #KiaK5 pic.twitter.com/NTNdB5l3gB
— NBA (@NBA) February 16, 2025
For McClung's second dunk of the first round, he jumped over the same friend and again took the ball off of his head to do it, but this time turned nearly 180 degrees toward the rim after his back was already facing the basket.
To begin the final round, McClung's friend spun on a hoverboard while another man climbed a ladder parked next to the basket. With a running start, McClung timed his jump to not only clear his friend, but again lift the ball off of his head, and then as he was ready to dunk it, he knocked the ball out of the hand of the man on the ladder into the hoop, for dunks of two balls on the same turn.
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Castle, MVP of the Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star Friday, made it interesting with a 50 on his last dunk — a 360 in which he moved the ball behind his back and dunked left handed — giving himself a score of 99.6. There wasn't much margin for McClung to play with, and he pushed the limit by soaring over the Cavs' Evan Mobley, who is not only 6-11, but was standing on a box that was at least a few inches tall.
Stephon Castle GLIDES in for the 360 Behind-The-Back 😱#ATTSlamDunk pic.twitter.com/d85WfeEWNg
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 16, 2025
Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis and Bucks second-year man Andre Jackson didn't get out of the first round. Buzelis failed to convert his first dunk all together (each player had three attempts per turn) and Jackson was plagued by misses before converting on simplified versions of his dunks.
Tyler Hero, a first-time All-Star who is currently tied for fourth in 3s this season, unseated Damian Lillard as 3-point champion by narrowly escaping round one (by one point, over Lillard) and then finishing with a final-round tally of 24 points — beating hometown favorite Buddy Hield, of the Warriors, by a point.
Herro had the most 3s this season of anyone in the eight-man field. Most shots in the 3-point contest were worth one point, money balls were worth two points and two shots were worth three points.
Hield took the opening round with a score of 31, and had a chance to catch Herro if he had made the entire rack of money balls in the championship round. Hield connected on the first three but missed his fourth shot, dooming him to finish one point behind Herro.
'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 said. '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.'
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Cleveland's Darius Garland also advanced to the final round. He wore a No. 22 Cavs jersey (his number is 10), to honor his father, Winston, who wore 22 when he played for the Golden State Warriors in 1990.
Lillard, who was not only the two-time defending 3-point shootout champion, but is also from nearby Oakland, didn't get out of the first round. Had Lillard won again, he would have joined 18 Larry Bird (1986-88) and Craig Hodges (1990-92) as the only players to win three consecutive 3-point shootouts.
The Cavaliers' duo of Donovan Mitchell and Mobley, both All-Stars, won the annual skills challenge, emerging victorious in individual rounds of an obstacle course, passing contest and shooting competition over the host-Warriors' Draymond Green and Moses Moody.
To the extent that there is any interest or intrigue in the skills challenge — which is always the first of the Saturday events and has been tweaked several times — the Spurs' team of Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama proved it.
They were actually disqualified — kicked out, booted, canceled, if you will — for deliberately throwing up shots quickly to save time during the first round.
'If they weren't disqualified, I think we probably would have just did the same thing to be honest with you,' Mitchell said. 'Play to win, I guess.'
'I feel like my first round I tried to do a similar thing but made it look like a real shot, but that didn't work really well, so I switched up my strategy,' Mobley added.
This story will be updated.