When J Cole Put Up That Lob And DSJ Finished It, I Thought The Dunk Contest Was Over Then, Says Mark Cuban
Dennis Smith Jr decided that he would participate in the Slam Dunk contest for the second consecutive season. This time it was only about 2 hours and 46 mins away from his hometown of Fayetteville, NC. Last season Dennis was not able to make it into the second round in a contest that featured Victor Oladipo, Larry Nance Jr and Donovan Mitchell. That contest ended with Donovan Mitchell hoisting the trophy after paying tributes to Vince Carter and Jazz legend Darrell Griffith.
This year’s dunk contest in Charlotte featured Miles Bridges, John Collins, Dennis Smith Jr, and Hamidou Diallo.
Diallo got the crowd on their feet after scoring 48 after catching a pass off the side of the backboard from former MVP Russell Westbrook and completing a windmill slam dunk with his off hand (left hand). DSJ would follow that up with a toss ahead of him catch it and dunk that landed him a 45 in the first round. Bridges would grab the lead with a 50 on a 360 dunk paying homage to Hornets great Larry Johnson with his throwback jersey.
For his second dunk, in the first round, DSJ brings out J Cole to assist him with the Dunk. J Cole is sitting in a chair and toss the ball up to DSJ, who hops over Cole with ease and slams it in and lands a 50 dunk. Diallo counters by bringing out Hall of Famer and former four-time NBA Champion Shaquille O’Neal, who he jumps over and puts his arm in the rim paying homage to one of Vince Carter’s dunks in the 2000 contest.
Diallo would later go on to edge out DSJ for the 2019 Slam Dunk Contest Championship.
Recently Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban shared his opinion on DSJ performance in this year’s contest.
” I was really happy for him. You c
an tell that he really didn’t practice, so I wish he would be done some practicing. I’ll tell you though when J Cole put up that lob, and he finished that was sweet it I thought it was over then, Diallo jumping over Shaq like that was impressive,” said Cuban.
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