Osceola Magic’s McClung jumps over and through people and a car to defend NBA’s Dunk Contest
SAN FRANCISCO – What do a Kia, hoverboard, ladder, a small platform and the Cavaliers’ Evan Mosley all have in common? They were all props used by the Osceola Magic Mac McClung in winning his third consecutive NBA Slam Dunk contest Saturday night that wowed both the judges and the sellout crowd at the Chase Center with a perfect score for four dunks.
“You have to get as many 50s as you can and that’s the hardest part of it,” McClung said of his perfect night. “I kept sending videos to my friends asking if this was a 50. You might think it’s a 50, but you never know.”
Saturday, everyone knew after McClung’s first dunk.
McClung, who went last in the first portion of the contest as the defending champion, shocked the crowd by bring out a Kia sedan … and jumped over it. He grabbed the ball being held from the sunroof by his friend Nate Dougherty and backwards dunked for the best dunk of the competition.
“I think it’s important to start with your best dunk,” McClung said. “I thought that in all the contests to get the fans on your side.”
Dougherty and McClung have been training together for the dunk contest for the past nine months, said the point guard who’s on a two-way deal with the Orlando Magic.
“I knew I was going to be in the car for 18 seconds until he came over,” Dougherty said. “I wasn’t surprised. I’ve seen him do it even better in practice.”
McClung spoke about the dunk that brought the crowd to its feet.
“Chuck [Millan] helps me jump and he said just jump over the car,” McClung recalled. “I’m like, ‘It’s not that easy, man!’ He taught me the technique on how to do it and we did it like three or four times and I felt more confident.”
In the final dunk of the competition, Cleveland Cavaliers’ 6’11” star Evan Mobley stood on a platform and held the ball behind his head. McClung jumped over Mobley, tapped the ball on the front of the rim, and then dunked to win the contest.
In his first dunk in the final round, McClung, wearing former Magic player Aaron Gordon’s jersey (Gordon was a two-time Dunk Contest runner-up with Orlando), jumped over Dougherty who was on a hoverboard rotating, dunked that ball, and another ball being held on the rim for another breath-taking dunk.
Dougherty noted he was nervous about the hoverboard dunk.
“But after the car, I was real confident,” Dougherty said. “I thought if we make the car, we got everything down. I was just in one spot and rotating.”
His second dunk of the first round was the simplest of the four dunks. McClung was already guaranteed a finals berth when he came baseline, jumped over his friend who held the ball, and turned and dunked the ball.
McClung, who considers himself a hooper – not a dunker – feels winning the dunk contest and playing in the NBA G League is where he needs to be at this time in his career. He still has a dream to be an NBA player.
“I think God has me exactly where I’m supposed to be,” McClung said. “I’m trying my best, so I feel good. The pressure of playing in. the G League does and that’s what people see.”
“It’s funny after high school I tried to get away from dunking. I wanted people to know I could hoop. This opportunity came up and I followed God’s footsteps. The dunk contest doesn’t really affect my career.”
The San Antonio Spurs’ Stephon Castle missed his first attempt in the final, but came off the baseline, grabbed an alley-oop, went through his legs and dunked the ball for a score of 49.6 out of 50. Castle’s second dunk was a drive where he went behind his back, switched hands and dunked the ball for 50 points. McClung had to score at least 49.7 – receive 4 50s and a 49 from the five judges – on his last dunk to win.
In the first round, Castle, who was the MVP of the NBA Rising Stars tournament on Friday, started with a 360-degree reach back dunk. The Chicago Bulls’ Matas Buzelis missed his all three attempts trying to come from the baseline, going through his leg, and then dunking to score the lowest score. The Milwaukee Bucks Andrew Jackson missed his first two attempts and then dribbled up for a two-handed power dunk.
In the second dunks, Buzelis threw the ball off the backboard and did a two-handed backwards dunk. Jackson did a wind-up windmill dunk. Castle had a ball thrown off the backboard and did a 180-degree backward dunk.
The NBA Skills Competition was won by the Cavaliers’ Mobley and Donovan Mitchell over the hometown Golden State’s Draymond Green and Moses Moody. The Miami Heats’ Tyler Herro beat the Golden State Warriors’ Buddy Hield 24-23 in the NBA Three-Point Shooting Contest. The Orlando Magic’s mascot Stuff won the Mascot Skills Competition.
On Friday night, McClung also had the opportunity every basketball player dreams – to play in the NBA All-Star Game. His G-League team beat Team M 40-39 in the NBA Rising Stars semifinals and needed a win against Hall of Famer Chris Mullin’s Team C to advance to the Sunday All-Star game.
In the end the G-League dreams ended with 25-14 loss in the final, in which McClung did not score.
“They were making shots, and we didn’t down the stretch,” McClung said of Team C’s game-ending 17-2 run. “[We] have five guys who never played together and it’s a random game.”
The G-League team led 12-8 at the first timeout in the first-team-to-25 game.
"I didn’t play my best,” McClung said of the two games. “It’s a tough game. You either have rhythm or not.”
