Over the weekend, the NBA All-Star Saturday Night festivities bizarrely took place in the afternoon, with the Slam Dunk Contest being the main event of the day. Miami Heat forward Keshad Johnson won the competition, although many fans were wondering why Chicago Bulls guard Mac McClung was not in the competition.
McClung has won the last three Slam Dunk Contests, and although he hasn’t been able to consistently carve out a spot for himself on an NBA team, he’s been with the Bulls for the past few weeks, which means he had every reason to be there in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Recently, according to Chaz NBA on YouTube, McClung showed off some of the dunks he would go with if he was selected to defend his title at the event.
Obviously, McClung still has every bit of the athleticism needed to win the event, but fans in Los Angeles had to be satisfied with bizarre dunks from Johnson, Jace Richardson, Jackson Hayes and Carter Bryant all night.
The dunk contest and the perceived decline in quality of the NBA All-Star weekend as a whole have come under some heavy criticism in recent years, with many fans lamenting the fact that big-name players often refuse to participate in the event these days.
Two years ago, Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown changed that by participating in the competition, but that didn’t stop more criticism from coming the NBA’s way.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the league will be fully hopeful that the All-Star Game players will make some kind of effort after years of playing a boring middle school recess game that will be a stark contrast to the performances of the best basketball players on the planet.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm ET from Los Angeles.
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