Mac

McClung

For the second consecutive fall, McClung will go through training camp with the Magic. However, unlike last year, his contract will be partially guaranteed. While known primarily for his dunk contest prowess, McClung has made strides as a player. Playing for the Osceola Magic, he won G League MVP honors last season. In 27 games, he averaged 25.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 1.3 steals in 35.4 minutes, shooting 50.9% from the field. McClung’s unlikely to impact fantasy basketball next season, but he’ll have another opportunity to earn an NBA roster spot.

McClung received some wildly low scores for his first-round dunks. Brown advanced after some highly questionable judging on a pair of lame efforts, including a dunk over a seated Kai Cenat. Brown was understandably booed by the crowd multiple times, but the judges got things right by awarding McClung a 50 on his final dunk - a jam over a standing Shaquille O’Neal. McClung joins Michael Jordan, Jason Richardson, Nate Robinson and Zach LaVine as the only players to win back-to-back Slam Dunk titles.

Team Detlef is full of G-League players, but they were able to get the win over Team Pau, who had Victor Wembanyama leading the way. McClung has made most of his noise in the league as a dominant dunker, and he will look to defend his dunk contest crown on Saturday night. However, he’ll get a chance to add to his hardware case against Team Jalen in the Rising Stars championship game.

McClung got a lot of hype last season after resurrecting the Slam Dunk Contest and putting on one of its best performances in years. Outside of the All-Star festivities, however, it’s unlikely McClung makes much of an impact, especially in Orlando’s crowded backcourt. He can be left on the waiver wire in all but the deepest of redraft leagues.

Philadelphia rested its top seven players, and Brooklyn did the same, so Sunday’s matchup was anything but a preview of the playoff series that will begin next weekend. Milton took advantage of the extended minutes, as he was one of three 76ers to score 20 points while leading the team with eight assists. Mac McClung (20/9/9 with three 3-pointers) fell one rebound and one assist shy of a triple-double, while Louis King (20/4/2/2 with four 3-pointers) shot 8-of-13 from the field. Paul Reed was a force inside, tallying 17 points, 10 rebounds, one assist, two steals, six blocks, and one 3-pointer in 28 minutes. He’ll be in the rotation next week as Joel Embiid’s backup.

McClung, who the 76ers signed to a two-way contract on February 14, said before the contest that he had some things that hadn’t been seen before. And he didn’t exaggerate, winning the first Dr. J Dunk Trophy. He began the contest by jumping over two people (one on top of the other) and tapping the ball to the backboard before dunking it. His final dunk was a 540, beating out New Orleans’ Trey Murphy in the championship round. New York’s Jericho Sims finished third, with Houston’s KJ Martin coming in fourth.

After spending two days with the 76ers on an Exhibit 10 contract, McClung will be back with the team just before the All-Star break. He’ll try to represent them well in the dunk contest, but he won’t make an impact in fantasy hoops. They are waiving Julian Champagnie to make room to sign McClung.

He’s been waived twice in the past week. McClung will likely wind up in the G League this season.

McClung will likely spend most of the season in the G-League, so this won’t impact fantasy hoops this year.

They’re doing this in order to open up a training camp spot for Ty Jerome. McClung should clear waivers and will then look to ink a training camp deal with another team, but he’s likely bound for the G League.