Mac McClung steals show at All-Star Saturday, becomes first 3x dunk champ

The last time the NBA All-Star Game came to the Bay Area 25 years ago, the Saturday night festivities at Oakland Arena stole the show and launched a host of iconic memes.

This year proved no different, with Mac McClung of the Orlando Magic delivering genuine thrills with his dunk contest performance, becoming the league’s first-ever three-time champion. Here’s a rundown of how the night went. 

The headline event of the night is a contest between four players judged on their creativity and success in dunking the ball. Former players Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, Jason Richardson (who won the contest twice as a member of the Warriors), and Baron Davis served on this year’s judging panel. 

Mac McClung, who plays for the Orlando Magic’s G-League affiliate, became the first player ever to win the contest three years in a row. He scored a perfect 50 on each of his four dunks. 

The contest, which has been struggling to attract star players of late, opened with a video tribute to Hall-of-Famer Vince Carter’s Slam Dunk contest win in 2000, the last time the All-Star Game was held in the Bay Area. Then with the Toronto Raptors, he won the contest in Oakland with his signature arm-in-rim and 360-degree-windmill dunks. 

Since then, it has been hard to dazzle audiences with something they haven’t seen before. 

But McClung showed that his hops are second to none. One dunk, he jumped over a man on a spinning hover board and dunked two balls. Another involved him juuuuuuust jumping over a Kia sedan parked in front of the basket. He punctuated the night by jumping over an elevated Evan Mobley, who is nearly 7-feet-tall, and bounced the ball off the front of the rim before finishing. 

Spurs rookie Stephon Castle turned in a solid performance in his own right. He made it to the final by finishing most of his dunks on the first try, utilizing an impressive array of spins in the air. 

In the final round, he completed an audacious, never-before-seen, between-the-legs dunk after collecting the ball from a made basket. However, the move took him multiple attempts, which cost him a perfect score. 

An obstacle course race featuring a combination of passing, shooting, and dribbling. After two rounds, the team that finishes fastest wins.

The Spurs team, led by budding superstar Victor Wembanyama and former Warriors guard Chris Paul, kicked off the festivities on an off-putting note when they were disqualified because they failed to take any valid shot attempts during their run through the course. Instead, they hurled balls from the shooting rack blindly without looking at the rim. The crowd didn’t initially understand the team’s strategy, but eventually the boos started raining down.

The Warriors pair of Draymond Green and Moses Moody recorded the best finish time in the first round before losing to the Cavaliers’ duo of Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley. 

Basketball player turned rapper LiAngelo Ball, also known as G3 Gelo, performed his hit song “Tweaker” for the first time in front of a live audience at the Chase Center. Since the song debuted last month, it has been a viral sensation and can be found playing in locker rooms across the country. 

Gelo was introduced by his older brother Lonzo Ball of the Chicago Bulls, and performed a clean version of his song flanked by the Warriors girls dance team and strobing red lights. 

A shooting competition between eight players, who circle the three-point line attempting 27 shots worth varying points. The top three of the opening round advance to the final where the highest-scoring player wins.

Warriors guard Buddy Hield — who had been struggling from long distance since his team’s hot 12-3 start and was recently removed from the team’s starting lineup — will hope his performance in the contest can help get his season back on track.

Hield, who won the competition in 2020, led all shooters in the first round with 31 points, drawing a huge ovation from the home crowd. But his luck would run out in the final round after Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro edged him out 25 to 23. 

Oakland native Damian Lillard, for his part, failed to advance out of the first round, collecting only 18 points.