Mcclung goes viral again
Dunk champ already known on the internet
SALT LAKE CITY — Mac Mcclung was not exactly an unknown.
Long before he won the dunk contest at NBA All-star Saturday, he was a Youtube phenomenon. It’s impossible to add up all the views that videos of Mcclung — everything from dunks to documentaries — had gotten, but it was in the hundreds of millions.
Yet it all seems different now, after this 6-foot2-inch boyish-looking guard from a small town in Virginia with trampolines for legs and only two NBA games on his résumé became the league’s dunk champion and finally brought buzz back to an event that had been more criticized than celebrated over the past few years.
“He saved the dunk contest,” Shaquille O’neal said, and countless others echoed those sentiments.
Time will tell if they’re right. But an event that is designed to create unforgettable moments — Michael Jordan taking off from the foul line, Aaron Gordon jumping over the Orlando Magic mascot, Dwight Howard donning the Superman cape — got a massive shot in the arm from a guy who now has more dunks in the contest (four) than he does in NBA games (one).
“It’s a cliché, but you can really do whatever you want to do,” said Mcclung, who is on a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers and playing in the G League.
“I’ve had so many people even at the highest level … if you are a young kid, and someone who is an inspiration to you, someone that you respect so much tells you that you can’t do it, it doesn’t matter. Literally, if you manifest and put your mind to it, you can literally make your life and reinvent yourself every day.”
Mcclung knows he is an underdog story. He grew up playing football and baseball in Gate City, Virginia, before deciding sometime around sixth grade — standing barely 5 feet tall at that point — that basketball would be his priority.
He started going viral in high school for his array of dunks, and he has handled all the attention that comes with internet fame for years.
“One thing with this game is you have to learn how to adapt,” Mcclung told The Associated Press last year. “I want to be known as someone who can help a team, help a championship team, be a good energy guy and a good culture guy and a good locker room guy.”
Even if he hasn’t gotten to establish himself at the NBA level yet, there’s no question that he can play. He broke records held by Allen Iverson and J.J. Redick in high school. He had big numbers at Texas Tech and Georgetown in college.
And now, he’s a dunk champion.