Mitchell is in-Vince-ible in Slam win

LOS ANGELES — Last June, Donovan Mitchell was dropping down the draft board, but on Saturday at All-Star Weekend he was soaring. And all 12 teams that passed on him — the Knicks included — got to sit back and watch.

The Utah Jazz rookie put on a display to win the Slam Dunk Contest.

Mitchell edged Larry Nance Jr. by two points, sealing his victory with a close approximation of the 360-degree spin dunk that Vince Carter used to win the 2000 contest.

“I wanted this so badly,” Mitchell said. “This is one of my favorite events of AllStar weekend. To not only be in it, but to win it, it’s crazy.”

Before making his winning dunk, Mitchell peeled off his Jazz jersey and wore a vintage Carter jersey from the Toronto Raptors.

“Growing up I was a big dunker,” Mitchell said. “I wasn’t much of a basketball player. I just dunked and played defense, and I watched a lot of Vince’s videos.” final round.

The skills competition consisted of two players going head to head. They dribbled around pylons, passed the ball into a net, dribbled to the other end of the floor for a layup and then dribbled back to the other end to take a pull-up 3-pointer.

Eight players started the competition, with Dinwiddie and Markkanen advancing to the final. Markkanen struggled passing the ball into the net, giving Dinwiddie a big lead.