SAN FRANCISCO – A couple of 12 months in the past right now, Mac McClung thought his dunk contest days had been completed. He’d been within the contest on the NBA’s All-Star weekend twice, gained it each instances with loads of aptitude and figured there was nothing else to show.
Then every week later, he discovered himself practising new dunks. And that is when he shortly realized that he has one — and he insists, just one — dunk contest left in him.
“I like the competition, man,” McClung stated. “It might be an motion in concern to not do it once more. So, I will do it — one final time.”
The 6-foot-2 McClung — a standout guard within the G League who has appeared in solely 5 NBA video games — is headed again to All-Star weekend, seeking to turn into the primary individual to win the league’s dunk title in three consecutive years. Nate Robinson is the one three-time dunk champion, although his did not are available in back-to-back-to-back years.
McClung breathed new life into the dunk contest and received rave evaluations from a few of the NBA’s largest names when he first gained it in 2023, then went airborne over Shaquille O’Neal to win it once more final 12 months. Now he goes for 3 in a row in San Francisco on Saturday evening, with San Antonio rookie Stephon Citadel, Chicago rookie Matas Buzelis and Milwaukee second-year wing Andre Jackson Jr. offering the competitors.
“I am not going there to lose,” Buzelis stated.
Added Jackson: “I simply need to be myself and placed on a present.”
Citadel is assured as effectively, although acknowledged he expects to really feel some nerves on Saturday evening.
“I get nervous for many video games,” Citadel stated. “I believe it is simply going to be one other occasion for me.”
When this weekend is over, they will all head again to their NBA jobs. McClung, for now, continues to attend for an actual alternative.
His 5 NBA video games have include 4 NBA groups — one with Chicago, one with the Los Angeles Lakers, two with Philadelphia and one with Orlando. He is scored 33 factors in these video games, 20 coming in a single contest with the 76ers at Brooklyn on April 9, 2023.
He hasn’t scored an NBA level since that day.
“The simple reply is alternative,” McClung stated. “It is not simply Mac McClung. There’s plenty of G League guys that may play within the league. There’s plenty of guys I’ve seen within the G League after which they get a possibility within the (NBA) and individuals are like, ‘Man, he received so a lot better this final 12 months.’ And I am like, ‘No, he’s been good.’ I actually have my religion in God, and consider I’m all the time proper the place I’m imagined to be.”
For now, that is with the Osceola Magic. He is on a two-way contract with Orlando, and McClung is averaging 24.5 factors and 6.1 assists throughout this G League common season. He is been rookie of the 12 months, he is been a G League champion and this season he is the reigning G League MVP.
“I take delight within the G League,” McClung stated. “Annually it is so laborious as a result of whenever you’re on a two-way individuals are like ‘Be prepared, keep prepared.’ However I am attempting to win within the G League. That is necessary to me. Successful a championship is all the time the usual and hopefully we will try this this 12 months in Osceola and apply much more stress.”
Successful back-to-back dunk contests has introduced a ton of notoriety. Individuals acknowledge McClung extra now, however he hasn’t modified. He is snug in denims and T-shirts, drives a Ford Bronco, has the identical group of buddies that may smack him again in line if he will get out of line. He is proud to be the small-town child from Gate Metropolis, Virginia — who simply occurs to have the ability to soar increased than most individuals and has turn into probably the most well-known dunkers on the planet.
He is been provided possibilities to play in Europe for larger cash than he is making within the G League, too. However the dream stays the NBA, and McClung is not prepared to surrender on it. He is all the time been the underdog and sometimes has discovered a solution to flip his hopes into actuality.
“It is humorous. I don’t even take a look at myself as a dunker,” McClung stated. “The those who know me greatest know I am a competitor first. Clearly, I haven’t made an influence within the league but or something like that, however that’s who I need to be and the place I need to be. That’s actually the place my coronary heart is.”
He’ll be again on the NBA stage on Saturday, with a shot at dunking his means into historical past.
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