Ending the highlight reel: Mac McClung’s pursuit of complete NBA acknowledgment
THE BEST DUNKER in the world participated in a practice session with his teammates on a recent December morning in suburban Chicago. However, unlike the spacious, full-court facilities usually utilized by NBA players, Mac McClung’s Windy City Bulls had to share their space with retirees wearing visors and knee braces. While McClung engaged in warm-ups on one side, a group of seniors exerted themselves in pickleball matches on the other.
McClung is the champion of the last three NBA Slam Dunk Contests and the only player to achieve three consecutive victories. Not even legends like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or Vince Carter can make that assertion.
“Oh!” an observer exclaimed, peering through a gap in a room divider. “That is him!”
Windy City, part of the NBA’s G League, permitted ESPN to observe practice on the condition that no video or still images of McClung performing dunks would be captured. It is evident that McClung’s connection to the shot that brought him global recognition is a complex one.
McClung reflected on the remarkable memories from his historic dunk titles — soaring over a Kia, leaping over Shaquille O’Neal, mingling with Dr. J — along with the off-court opportunities that followed. However, he believes that the advantages of his dunking fame stop there.
“I don’t think it has much relevance to my NBA career,” McClung stated.
McClung’s journey has seen him transition from the G League to the NBA, back to the G League, and then back to the NBA, experiencing a cycle of ups and downs. He has played for four G League teams in five seasons and participated in ten NBA games across five teams during that span. McClung declined several offers to play overseas.
“Millions of dollars,” he remarked, “… but this [NBA pursuit] is where my heart lies.”
At 27, McClung has been called up twice this season — first in October by the Indiana Pacers, marking his first standard NBA contract. The Pacers released him a week later. He then signed a two-way contract with the Chicago Bulls, just a week before the start of NBA All-Star Weekend.
If he had entered this year’s dunk contest, McClung could have become the first four-time champion. He opted to withdraw before signing with the Bulls. This decision seemed to exclude him from All-Star Weekend for the first time in three years, but just days before Friday’s Rising Stars game, which features first- and second-year NBA players competing against G Leaguers in a mini-tournament, the Bulls announced McClung as an injury replacement. He will participate in All-Star Weekend again — this time, with the chance to showcase his complete skill set.
Nevertheless, McClung remains just one transaction away from returning to practice facilities shared with pickleball players or venues shared with wrestling matches and rodeos. He played for Chicago on February 5, scoring four points in 13 minutes. The following night, he was back with Windy City, where he recorded 33 points and seven assists. He has remained in the G League since.
McClung is determined that he has not abandoned the pursuit that seems to have turned its back on him. He grapples with the frustrations, anxieties, and resentment that accompany that choice, even if he does not always acknowledge their presence.
“You can’t keep telling me no forever,” McClung asserted.
MCCLUNG’S UNLIKELY JOURNEY began in an unexpected location: Gate City, Virginia, near the Tennessee border, with a population of 2,043. “You walk outside,” McClung noted, “you’re going to see multiple people you know.”
The McClung family was well-known in the sports community. McClung’s sister, Anna, was the top high school soccer player in the state. His father, Marcus, played football at Virginia Tech. McClung also played football but confided in his father during seventh grade.
“And he said: I want to be a basketball player, and I want to be the best,” Marcus recounted.
One of McClung’s close friends, Zac Ervin, stood at 6-foot-4 before high school. McClung observed him dunking and aspired to do the same. He settled for merely touching the rim. “It was like magic,” McClung recalled. Between his freshman and sophomore years, McClung grew from 5-7 to 6-1.
“And then probably two months, three months later, he was windmilling,” Marcus said.
By his junior year, a dunk over two defenders became an Instagram post, which evolved into a highlight video that went viral. McClung’s dunks garnered millions of views on YouTube and earned him a feature on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.
“Man, honestly, those were the most insane times,” Ervin, who was also McClung’s high school teammate, stated.
His dunks transformed game nights into standing-room-only events. Teachers took half-days to wait in lines for four hours before tip-off, spilling out of the building. On the road, McClung was assigned a coach who acted as a personal bodyguard. They devised postgame escape plans through back entrances to avoid crowds. When fans did reach him, he signed autographs for an hour. One fan even offered a bra for the high schooler to sign.
“It was just surreal,” McClung remarked.
However, fame did not translate into opportunities on the court. Major programs showed little interest. “The same story of my life,” McClung said. “I wanted to go high major. I know I’m good enough.”
An AAU connection facilitated his entry into a summer pickup game at Georgetown. “I don’t even think they knew who I was,” McClung stated.
Hall-of-Fame center Patrick Ewing, then the coach of the Hoyas, approached McClung’s mother, Lenoir, at the gym and remarked that her son had outperformed all his players. Ewing extended a scholarship offer for McClung to be his point guard, which McClung eventually accepted before his senior year.
As a senior, McClung broke Allen Iverson’s single-season state scoring record and JJ Redick’s single-game state finals scoring record. Gate City secured what remains its only state championship in boys’ basketball. Regarding his reputation as a dunker in college, McClung stated: “You felt like you’re under that cloud a little bit.”
He dedicated himself to improving the rest of his game.
“Once he came back from Georgetown [for the summer], we were not even on a similar level at all anymore,” said Bradley Dean, McClung’s close friend and high school teammate. “He just has this look in his eye and this feeling in his heart and his soul that he’s like, ‘I’m going to make it.'”
By his sophomore year at Georgetown, McClung claimed he was finished with dunking. He transferred to Texas Tech after that season.
He led the Red Raiders in scoring with an average of 15.5 points per game but only dunked twice during the 2020-21 season, his sole season in Lubbock.
“I stopped dunking for a year,” McClung stated. “I was like, I’m not even going to dunk. Like, I don’t even want to be a part of that. And I just want to show people my game.”
MCCLUNG WAS DONE with dunking, but dunking was not finished with him. He was at Buffalo Wild Wings when he received the call. McClung was with his teammates on the Delaware Blue Coats, the Philadelphia 76ers’ affiliate. The voice on the other end invited him to participate in the 2023 NBA Slam Dunk Contest with just two weeks’ notice.
No G League player had ever taken part.
“And I was like, what?” McClung recalled.
Participation from superstars had declined in recent years, but the event was made famous by Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Vince Carter. He was an undrafted, second-year player who had played on more G League teams (three) than in NBA games (two).
McClung even predicted he would one day win. “There’s a video from the year before,” McClung noted. He told himself: I’m going to win the dunk contest, and this is how I’m going to do it. But the invitation itself was a surprise.
“I pictured myself in the NBA getting the call up for it,” McClung said.
He needed dunks that would impress the audience. A week before the contest, McClung gathered with a group of close friends at a gym to brainstorm ideas. He then asked Dean to assist in a stunt for the event. Dean, who was playing Division II basketball at the time, missed a game to accompany McClung to Salt Lake City.
For his first dunk, McClung leaped over Dean, who was seated on another man’s shoulders, grabbed the ball, tapped the glass, and executed a reverse jam. TNT’s broadcast captured Wilkins, one of the judges, reacting with astonishment. The camera then shifted to wide-eyed NBA players courtside. McClung received perfect scores across the board.
McClung’s second dunk was a powerful 360. After he landed, Kenny Smith remarked on TNT’s broadcast: “Welcome to the N … B … A! No more bus rides to Albuquerque!”
McClung triumphed over the New Orleans Pelicans’ Trey Murphy III to win the contest. To secure the victory, he donned his Gate City High School jersey and completed more than one full rotation before finishing with a slam. The NBA players courtside surrounded him. Wilkins leaned in for a hug.
McClung radiated joy. Following the event, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, walking through the arena’s corridors, stated that McClung had “saved” a contest that had been struggling with ratings.
McClung’s family rushed onto the court from the stands. Marcus was pulled in multiple directions. Everyone wanted an interview. Marcus looked around. His wife, Lenoir, was nowhere to be seen.
He called her. No response.
He called again. She answered.
“I’m talking to the commissioner of basketball, Adam Silver, right now,” Lenoir said. “Please leave me alone.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Marcus replied.
What did Silver say?
“We need to get your kid on a team,” Lenoir recalled. “I said, ‘I think you could do that.’ And he laughed, and we laughed.”
AFTER WINNING HIS first dunk title, McClung secured a G League championship with the Blue Coats and subsequently played two games with the 76ers at the conclusion of the regular season.
When the next season commenced, McClung was with the Osceola Magic, Orlando’s affiliate, and enjoying his best season to date. He contemplated not participating in the 2024 contest. All but one of his dunks had received perfect scores. That would be challenging to surpass.
However, McClung’s performance had also revitalized interest in the contest. It made it difficult to decline. McClung won again in 2024. This time, the 6-foot-2 McClung soared over the 7-1 O’Neal for the dunk that defeated multi-time All-Star Jaylen Brown.
After the victory, McClung returned to the G League. He went on to earn the league MVP in 2023-24 with Osceola, averaging 25.7 points on 51.5% shooting.
McClung faced opponents on two-way contracts. He outperformed them, and his team secured victories. However, it was the only season of his professional career in which he was not called up to the NBA.
“That was a confusing year,” he remarked.
To win a third title in 2025, McClung acknowledged he would need to be more inventive. For one dunk, he leaped over a Kia. For another, he slammed two balls simultaneously, retrieving one from a man on a ladder. McClung transitioned from underdog to all-time great.
“Vince Carter,” Smith stated during that year’s TNT broadcast, “you are being challenged for the greatest dunker in dunk history!”
Every dunk received a perfect score. McClung won for a third time. Wilkins and Jordan had each won it twice, as had Zach LaVine and Harold Miner. Nate Robinson was the only other player to win it three times. However, McClung became the first player ever to win it three consecutive times.
“Our town erupted” after the first victory, said Scott Vermillion, McClung’s high school coach. “Our jaws dropped on the third one.”
Six days after his historic win, McClung found himself at Nassau Coliseum in suburban New York, a dilapidated arena in its sixth decade that had been abandoned by all tenants except the G League’s Long Island Nets. He scored 25 points for Osceola.
A month later, on March 20 last year, he was scheduled to be in Portland, Maine, for Osceola’s game against the Celtics’ affiliate. The team was staying at a downtown Marriott, across from the fish pier. The bus arrived. Osceola’s players disembarked. McClung was absent. He had received a call-up.
In the hotel lobby, Osceola’s coach, Dylan Murphy, explained McClung’s situation to ESPN. He was on a two-way contract while with Philadelphia, allowing him to split time between the G League and the NBA. In his first year with Orlando’s organization, when he won an MVP, he was on a contract that did not permit that split. He then returned to a two-way deal.
Murphy served as a mentor to McClung. He emphasized analytics valued at the NBA level and assisted McClung in adapting his game accordingly. Murphy had faith in McClung. “He just never questioned that I was an NBA player,” McClung stated.
When asked last year why McClung has fluctuated between the G League and the NBA, Murphy recited the harsh reality: “There are 450 NBA players. There are 90 two-way players, and there are probably another 200 individuals capable of being in the NBA. But there are only so many spots.”
“And if he got minutes, I’m sure he could demonstrate what he could do,” Murphy added.
WHEN THE PACERS reached out in late October 2025, McClung had not participated in a competitive game for seven months. Days earlier, he had been signed by the Bulls before being waived hours later and sent back for another stint with Windy City. However, G League training camp had not yet commenced.
Indiana flew McClung to Dallas, where he faced off against NBA veterans on SMU’s campus a day after the call. Indiana was dealing with injuries, including to All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was out for the season. This was his opportunity to showcase his abilities.
After the workout, McClung exited the gym and headed to the shower. The workout replayed in his mind. McClung dressed and began preparing for a return trip to Chicago.
A Pacers executive stopped him. “Don’t pack your bags,” he instructed McClung. “Don’t leave.”
McClung called home to Gate City. He informed his parents that his flight back to Chicago had been canceled. He needed to watch film with the Pacers.
Lenoir screamed. Marcus celebrated.
“It was one of the biggest thrills of our life,” Marcus stated.
“I felt like this was his moment,” Lenoir added.
Not only would McClung remain with the Pacers, but he was also signed to a standard NBA contract for the first time in his career. Two years. Non-guaranteed.
On October 29, McClung scored seven points in 12 minutes against the Dallas Mavericks. Two nights later, he tallied 12 points in 19 minutes against the Atlanta Hawks, appearing to fit the role of a solid NBA guard. The following night, McClung did not enter the game against the Golden State Warriors.
“I think we knew that [the Pacers] had made up their mind,” Marcus remarked.
McClung made just one more appearance: two-plus minutes against the Milwaukee Bucks, lasting a week with Indiana before being waived. “It was super tough,” McClung stated.
His agent provided encouragement, but that did little to alleviate the disappointment. Marcus and Lenoir felt sadness, but McClung leaned on them for support.
“I was embarrassed,” he admitted.
However, McClung expressed his determination to keep knocking on the NBA’s door until someone answered.
He returned to the G League.
On the day McClung was released, his father texted ESPN to express his concerns.
“He’s [tough] as hell,” Marcus wrote. “But this might be different.”
He later elaborated by phone: “We’ve faced lows before. This was just harder. I never thought he would give up on his dream. I didn’t know how he would recover mentally.”
MARCUS LEANED BACK against his kitchen counter in Gate City. It was January, and his son had yet to be called back to the NBA. He wanted to understand why.
The father recounted a story: In 2023, after McClung won his first dunk title and then the G League championship, averaging 32.5 points in the series, Marcus contacted an NBA scout. He sought to know what else his son needed to do to secure a full-time position in the league. The scout informed Marcus that McClung needed to enhance his three-point shooting to near 40%.
“Well, Mac shot
