McClung Earns His Third Slam Dunk Title
NBA All-Star Saturday Night has long been the highlight of a night filled with events. Traditionally, it’s a highly coveted competition featuring the league’s best players. While that has evolved over the years, a new contender has reached unprecedented heights, especially at just 6’2”.
McClung’s creativity in his dunks has made him a household name. His performances have even sparked interest among top players, reviving conversations about stars returning to the Dunk Contest as they did in past years.
McClung dazzled the crowd with a spectacular dunk over a Kia sports car, soaring over a young man holding a basketball above his head while standing in the sunroof.
For his second attempt, he elevated the challenge by leaping over the same individual, this time balancing on a spinning hoverboard.
Finally, he capped off his performance with an incredible 180-degree spin, bringing the ball behind his back, touching the rim, and finishing the dunk mid-air with his left hand.
Saturday night reached record numbers in viewing, surpassing one billion views across all league social media accounts, and that number continues to grow. This figure does not include additional engagement from non-league accounts. Social media views are up 17% compared to the same period last year.
On Saturday, the NBA’s TikTok account recorded its most-viewed day ever, generating over 100 million views, driven by Mac McClung’s jaw-dropping dunk over the 2025 Kia K5 GT.
Green and Mood Fall Short in the Kia Skill Challenge
This year’s Kia Challenge winner was the Cleveland Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley. Three teams, which included the Cavs, San Antonio Spurs, Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama, and the home team Golden State Warriors Draymond Green, and Moses Moody.
While the Skills Challenge may seem straightforward, Paul and Wembanyama took an unconventional approach to speeding up their time, opting to skip the 3-point shot by simply tossing the ball toward the basket without attempting a proper shot. After further review, they were disqualified, leaving both fans and players stunned.
The winners answered a few questions from the press about their victory and the Spurs’ strategy for securing the win.
You guys came here hoping to pull this off. For both of you, did it feel good to be able to get through this and have a couple of trophies?
EVAN MOBLEY: Yeah. It was fun, honestly. I feel like the first one was a little rusty; had to get back used to it. Then, the second round got the flow of it, and Donovan followed right behind and got the W.
DONOVAN MITCHELL: Just leaning on my vet, the OG of it all. I told him I wouldn’t let him down. He said, I’ve got a perfect record; we can’t leave here 1-1.
Just tried to do my part to make sure I didn’t mess up his undefeated record.
You’ve known Chris [Paul] for a while. He likes to try to bend the rules.
DONOVAN MITCHELL: That’s what Victor said. If Victor said that…
What were you guys thinking as they were trying to pull off that strategy?
DONOVAN MITCHELL: If they weren’t disqualified, I think we probably would have just did the same thing, to be honest with you. Play to win, I guess.
EVAN MOBLEY: I feel like in my first round, I tried to do a similar thing but made it look like a real shot. But that didn’t work really well, so I switched up my strategy.
However, Green kept it light when defending “Wemby”, joking that he did ask about the rules before ultimately deciding to throw up the shots.
The Warriors recorded the fastest time in Round 1, but Green’s missed passes ultimately cost them the win. This marked Moody’s first appearance in the All-Star event, while Green had previously competed in the Skills Challenge in 2017.
“They know that’s my dog,” said Moody. “He’s going to show up when the lights are on, he’s going to show up when we need him to. I don’t need him in the Skills Challenge, I need him in the playoffs.”
Herro Takes Home in the 3-Point Contest
Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro won the Starry 3-Point Contest on Saturday night, narrowly defeating the competition. The other finalists included Cleveland Cavaliers’ Darius Garland and Warriors’ Buddy Hield, who fell just one point short of the title.
Hield, the fan favorite in his home team’s market, delivered a strong performance, scoring 31 points in the first round, the highest of any opening round. However, in the final round, Herro edged him out with a 24-23 victory to claim the title.
“Just happy, enjoying the moment, happy to be here,” Herro said. “I was definitely nervous going into the first round. But I thought I shot it pretty well in the second round, and then Buddy had the chance to tie it at the end. Obviously, a great competition, a bunch of great shooters. Like I said, I’m just happy to be here.”
Tough one. Bad start (in the final round). It’s all good, though,” Hield said. “Bad start, though. I didn’t know what his [Herro] score was at, so I couldn’t figure out, like, what’s my score. Tough one.”
Photos by NBAALLSTAR/X
