SAN FRANCISCO — Mac McClung will leave it up to others to decide where he ranks among the best dunkers ever.
When it comes to the dunk contest, there is no doubt.
The G League star and dunk maven put on a remarkable show of creative slams at NBA All-Star Saturday night by recording perfect scores of 50 on all four of his jaw-dropping jams to become the first player to win three straight editions of the dunk contest.
“It kind of feels like a blur,” said the 26-year-old McClung, a 6-foot-2 guard on a two-way contract with the Orlando Magic and their Osceola team in the G League. “It’s something I love doing. That’s where my creativity comes, is I genuinely love this contest and I love to dunk.”
Nate Robinson is the only other player to win the dunk contest three times, with his back-to-back victories in 2009-10 following his first title in 2006.
McClung needed to be nearly perfect to top Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs in the final round after the rookie point guard followed up a 49.6 for his first dunk with a 50 on his second when he went behind his back to switch from his right hand to his left before the slam.
McClung was up to the task, though, and now has as many dunk contest wins in his career as he does dunks in NBA games, according to Sportradar, as he has only made five appearances in the top league.
For his final dunk, McClung stationed Evan Mobley on a platform in front of the basket. With the 6-11 post for the Cleveland Cavaliers holding the ball behind his head, McClung jumped over him, tapped the rim with the ball before slamming it home to the delight of the crowd and judges.
His performance got NBA stars including Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ja Morant to talk about getting into the contest to go up against McClung.
“I think the contest is a beautiful thing,” McClung said. “I know people probably want bigger stars in it, and I would love to see that. I think it’s important for the people in it to want to do it. … This contest is a special thing. We all love it.”
McClung’s first dunk in the final round featured him taking one ball in midair for a windmill dunk with his right hand while slamming home another stationed near the rim with his left.
McClung also received two perfect scores in the opening round. On the first, a car was parked in the lane with a person standing through the sun roof with a ball. McClung jumped over the car, took the ball and did a reverse, behind-the-head dunk, drawing gasps from the crowd and scoring a 50.
He didn’t disappoint on his next try despite having already clinched a spot in the final. He jumped over a person holding the ball and did a twisting, no-look dunk — leading retired baseball star Barry Bonds to jump out of his seat — for another 50.
McClung said he spent eight or nine months preparing for this contest and isn’t sure if he will go for a fourth straight title.
“I never want to say never, but this one took a lot out of me.” he said.
Castle advanced with more traditional dunks that earned him a total score of 95.
Matas Buzelis of the Chicago Bulls and Andre Jackson Jr. of the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated in the first round.
Earlier in the evening at the Chase Center, Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat edged Buddy Hield of the All-Star host Golden State Warriors to win the 3-point contest.
Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard missed a chance to join Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players to three-peat as 3-point champions when his score of 18 falling one point short of Herro for the last spot in the three-person final.
Herro followed up his third-place performance in the opening round to set the pace in the final with 24 points. He made both special shots worth 3 points and then three of five from the money ball rack worth two points each to end it.
Hield followed up a scintillating opening round with 31 points by missing his first six shots in the final. He got going after that to the delight of his home crowd and had a chance to pull out the win by making six straight money balls to end it.
He made four in a row before one shot rimmed out. He made the final shot to end with 23 points.
“Just happy, enjoying the moment, happy to be here,” Herro said. “I was definitely nervous going into the first round. But I thought I shot it pretty well in the second round, and then Buddy had the chance to tie it at the end. Obviously a great competition, a bunch of great shooters. Like I said, just happy to be here.”
Darius Garland came in third with 19 points in the final round.
Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks, Cade Cunningam of the Detroit Pistons, Cam Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets and Norman Powell of the Los Angeles Clippers failed to advance out of the first round.
In the Skills Challenge, Mobley and Cleveland teammate Donovan Mitchell teamed up to knock off hometown heroes Draymond Green and Moses Moody and win the event.
The final game after San Antonio’s duo of veteran Chris Paul and rookie Victor Wembanyama was disqualified for trying to cheat the rules in the obstacle course that features players speeding through stations with various passing and shooting drills.
Mitchell and Mobley went first in the final round and raced through the course in 1 minute, 0.3 second as they easily made almost all of their shots from three spots on the floor on their first attempt.
“It was fun, honestly,” said Mobley, who was also part of the winning group in 2022. “I feel like the first one was a little rusty, had to get back used to it. Then the second round, got the flow of it, and Donovan followed right behind and got the W.”
Moody made it through the first round easily for the Golden State duo, but Green missed all three chest passes and struggled to make his shots. He couldn’t even make it to the final two stations before time ran out to match the time set by the Cleveland players.
Paul and Wembanyama went first in the opening round and were loudly booed for not even trying to make real attempts on their shots, just tossing the balls off the racks. They were ultimately disqualified.
“We tried something that we thought could win,” Paul said. “To see if we had the best time, so … it was fun.”
The rookie team of Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks and Alex Sarr of the Washington Wizards were also eliminated in the first round.