CAMDEN, N.J. — Mac McClung has not participated in a practice for the Philadelphia 76ers since signing a two-way deal with the team shortly before the All-Star break, but he put on a show for the franchise during the All-Star break.
McClung was terrific during the All-Star weekend. He had a nice showing in the Rising Stars challenge and stole the show at the dunk contest. He completed four impressive dunks, all on just one attempt, and he scored a perfect 50 on three of those dunks.
As the Sixers returned to practice on Wednesday ahead of a big, post-All-Star break stretch, the talk of McClung was still buzzing.
“That was crazy, man,” Shake Milton said. “For him to come in and win it and then type the dunks he was doing, too, was just crazy man. I wish I could get up there to do those type of things, too. That’s big-time, man. That’s huge.”
The dunk contest had been losing its luster in recent years. Many fans were turned off by the event, and the focus of All-Star Saturday had shifted to the 3-point shootout.
Some say McClung’s performance saved the event for a while.
“Absolutely!” exclaimed Georges Niang. “I don’t care how humble he’s gonna be. I’ll be airing it for him. He definitely did and then they were showing clips on Twitter like stuff that he didn’t even pull off in the dunk contest. I was like, it should be mandatory that he’s gonna be in it every year.”
McClung mentioned he might come up with something new if he is invited back to the dunk contest in 2024. Maybe he will have something new up his sleeve for the next contest.
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