McClung, 26, can brag about being the only three-time champion, but he’s a career G-Leaguer. The native of Gate City, Virginia, went undrafted in 2021 after a college career split between stints at Georgetown and Texas Tech. Overall, McClung averaged 14.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in college.
As a professional, McClung has bounced around from the Lakers, Bulls, 76ers and now Magic organizations. And most of his career has been playing for the G-League affiliates of those franchises.
In fact, McClung has only logged five games played in the actual NBA. His last NBA game came in October. He holds a career average of 6.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game from his brief time in the NBA.
Again, no shade to McClung, who is winning fair and square, but he really shouldn’t even be competing, let alone dominating.
Legendary names competing is what made the NBA Slam Dunk Contest famous. The 1988 dunk-off between Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins put the event on the map and is still talked about to this day.
Jordan’s win over Wilkins gave him back-to-back titles. Wilkins didn’t beat Jordan in 1988, but he did win twice in 1985 and then again in 1990.
Kobe Bryant won in 1997 as a rookie. And then Vince Carter took the event to another level in 2000.
Dwight Howard blew out a cupcake and Blake Griffin leaped over a car. However, there haven’t been enough of those big moments from actual true super-stars this century.
LeBron James, who many argue over Jordan as the greatest of all-time, will retire having never competed in a single NBA Slam Dunk Contest. He did win the McDonald’s All-American Slam Dunk Contest in 2003, but never took his talents to doing it on the NBA stage.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has never taken part in an NBA Slam Dunk Contest either.
Celtics star Jaylen Brown actually called out the league’s top players when he lost to McClung in the 2024 event.
“I think, ultimately, in this media era, some players are just afraid to get turned into a meme or whatever,” said Brown.
And he’s right. Star players view the event as too much of a risk. That’s been especially true for James. Anything short of winning in convincing fashion would lead to heavy criticism. Keeping it as a “what if?” is easier.
So now even if McClung goes for four in a row, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest will continue to be a shell of its former self unless actual All-Stars compete.
