Knicks’ Smith Jr. turns to pal J. Cole for dunk contest help
CHARLOTTE — Dennis Smith Jr.'s dunks Saturday night were touched by the premier lyricist.
J. Cole was part of the creation process for Smith Jr., who has been bouncing ideas off the platinum-selling rapper in a group text. J. Cole and his manager, Ibrahim Hamad, were part of this process.
More recently, Baron Davis joined the committee.
“I go and tell my brothers and chop some dunks out and send it immediately (to the group), like, ‘What you think about this one, this one, this one,'” Smith Jr. said. “They tell me what they think, how they think people will judge it based on what they seen last year through the dunk contest and that's kind of how it went. I changed a couple things in my rehearsal (Friday). I got a couple new dunks.”
In the end, Smith Jr. came up short. Oklahoma City's Hamidou Diallo won the contest , helped by the jam of the night when he soared over Shaquille O'Neal in the first round. Diallo got a boost from rapper Quavo in the finals to win the crown.
Diallo topped Smith 8885 in the finale.
Smith Jr. leapfrogged Miami's Dwyane Wade and took a lob from Stephen Curry to give himself a chance with his last dunk, getting a perfect score from the judges.
J. Cole's partnership with Smith Jr. goes deeper than collaborating on dunks. They grew up in the same town – Fayetteville, N.C. – and became close over the years despite a 13-year age difference. When Smith Jr. (top photo) was traded from the Mavericks to the Knicks, J. Cole's message to him was simple:
“Stay solid,” Smith Jr. said. “That means maintaining a level head, remaining calm no matter the situation and continuing to work.”
“He's like my big brother, man,” the guard added. “He's a really good dude. He's a normal famous guy. He never let the fame get to his head so we can relate on that kind of level.”
J. Cole is the featured artist at the halftime show of the All-Star game Sunday.
For Smith Jr., it's was his second attempt at the dunk title after finishing third last year behind Donovan Mitchell and Larry Nance Jr.