A somewhat controversial and mostly underwhelming Slam Dunk contest ended with Jacob Toppin on the outside looking in.
The Knicks rookie threw down a pair of pretty dunks — the second a between-the-legs, 360-degree work of art — but the judges were more impressed by Jaylen Brown’s slams in Saturday’s event in Indianapolis.
Neither won — Mac McClung, essentially a ringer, took home the trophy for a second straight year by clearing a standing Shaquille O’Neal — but Brown advanced to the final over Toppin, who was trying to outdo his 2022 champion brother Obi.
Jacob, an undrafted forward who has played in five Knicks games this season, brought out Obi for his first dunk and cleared the 6-foot-9 Pacer for a 47.8 score.
His next dunk was more impressive. He dribbled in from the 3-point arc, jumped and began putting the ball through his legs when his back was to the hoop. He completed the transfer, completed the spin and finished off the dunk with both hands.
The judges, though, might have penalized Toppin for needing two attempts to get the dunk right. After seeing a 47.2 total score, Toppin looked away in apparent disbelief.
“I guess Jacob needed to jump over the shot clock to get higher than a 46,” Jalen Brunson, who participated in the 3-Point Contest, tweeted on X, formerly Twitter.
Brown, meanwhile, was a rarity: a proven star willing to take the stage for the contest. For his second dunk, the Celtics All-Star attempted to pay tribute to Dee Brown, who sealed the 1991 contest by pulling his arm over his face and throwing down a vicious, eyes-closed dunk.
Thirty-three years later, Jalyen Brown brought out Jayson Tatum, who tossed an alley-oop as the All-Star leapfrogged Twitch star Kai Cenat seated in a chair. Brown extended his arm over his eyes, too, but not until he already had dunked.
Brown heard some boos from the crowd, but received a 47.6 that helped him advance.
In the final, Brown notably leapt over Donovan Mitchell and dunked with a lefty windmill. The 6-foot-2 McClung did him one better, hurdling the 7-foot-1 Shaq — while nearly scraping his head on the rim — and throwing down a reverse dunk for a perfect score.
“I’m a professional hater but I’m not hating when I say I could win the dunk contest with these scores but not sure the knees would allow it lmao,” Joel Embiid tweeted.