OK, look. I’m not saying Dennis Smith Jr. should’ve won the dunk contest. His first dunk had plenty of room for improvement and he paid for it. But what I will say is that he easily had the best dunk of the night with his second dunk. I mean, look at this.
️ Dennis Smith Jr. goes through the legs and changes hands for the first 5⃣0⃣ of the evening!#VerizonDunk pic.twitter.com/DAJOx3ohL9
— 2018 NBA All-Star (@NBAAllStar) February 18, 2018
We can talk about Vince Carter jerseys from Donovan Mitchell or double-tap dunks from Larry Nance Jr., but none of them are topping what Smith did.
We have never seen anything like it.
The Mavericks’ rookie point guard pulled off a reverse 360 dunk through his legs. Oh, AND he switched hands in the middle. That reads like a lot, but that’s because it actually was.
Let’s look at this in slow motion.
Dennis Smith Jr. got a 50 pic.twitter.com/ftHR92vId6
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 18, 2018
He got a 50 for this dunk despite missing twice before he actually got the attempt down. That’s how good it actually was.
Now, we’ve seen reverse dunks before. Those are good, but they aren’t particularly special. And we’ve seen players go through the legs before — most notably this dunk by Jason Richardson in 2004.
But to combine the two? That’s insane. And it’s something we should appreciate, even though we won’t because he didn’t win.
It’s a shame that this amazing dunk had to go to waste, but it is what it is. Maybe next year, Dennis.
@Dennis1SmithJr Double pump= 39@VicOladipo No dunk= 31
— Dennis Smith Jr. (@Dennis1SmithJr) February 18, 2018
What that look like?