The area for the NBA bang dunk competition is established, with Mac McClung supposedly signing up with as the 4th and last individual, perESPN’s Sham Charania McClung will certainly try to win the competition for the 3rd straight year, ending up being the initial gamer to strike a three-peat in case.
Along with McClung, the remainder of the area consists of San Antonio Spurs newbie Stephon Castle, Chicago Bulls newbie Matas Buzelis and Andre Jackson Jr., a second-year guard with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Orlando Magic’s Mac McClung has actually devoted to the NBA Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star weekend break in San Francisco, resources inform ESPN. He will certainly go for a dunk competition three-peat with the four-man area collection: McClung, Stephon Castle, Matas Buzelis,Andre Jackson Jr pic.twitter.com/WgOeCVwxrR
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 27, 2025
As issues that the dunk competition has actually broken down for many years remain to expand, McClung has actually increased as a not likely house name with the competitors. McClung, that signed a two-way agreement with the Orlando Magic in October, arised from near-obscurity 2 years back when he won the 2023 dunk competition.
McClung after that took place to win once again in 2024, covering off his run by soaking over Shaquille O’Neal and making best 50s throughout the board.
McClung came to be simply the 5th individual to win back-to-back dunk competitions, signing up with the similarity Michael Jordan, Jason Richardson, Nate Robinson and Zach LaVine.
The various other 3 candidates in case this year will certainly be contending in their initial All-Star weekend break. Castle and Buzelis are newbies, both first-round draft picks of UConn and the G League, specifically. Jackson was picked in the 2nd round of the 2023 draft, additionally out of UConn.
The competitors will certainly once more stop working to include any one of the organization’s heavyweights, which has actually been a concern the organization has actually taken care of for several years. In 2024, Jaylen Brown came to be the initial real All-Star to sign up with the competitors considering that 2017, yet was up to McClung in the middle of some dispute regarding the racking up. Zion Williamson, well-known for his soaking capacity, had actually claimed last March that he would certainly sign up with the dunk competition if he was enacted as an All-Star (Given his ballot total amounts, that shows up not likely.)
The dunk competition occurs on Saturday,Feb 15, throughout the three-day All-Star weekend break. The competition will certainly the be the 3rd occasion of the evening, complying with the abilities difficulty and the three-point difficulty. Participants in those occasions are yet to be introduced.
