YouTube Gold: MacMcClung Becomes Legend

Basketball history is full of small-town guys who emerge as great players. David Thompson came from Shelby, NC, pop. 20,000. Zion Williamson is from Spartanburg, SC, pop. 38,000. Dominique Wilkins is from Washington, NC, pop. 9,875. So is Bam Adebayo and don’t even get us started on Kinston.

We’re pretty sure no one much has come out of Gate City, Virginia, pop. 2,034, at least not athletically. There is one notable exception though: Mac McClung.

Just 6-2 and having not really caught on with an NBA team, McClung is gifted with a 48” vertical. And Saturday, McClung put on a show in the NBA Dunk Contest that is going to become legend - and probably already is.

Describing the first dunk on this video is just about impossible, but if you haven’t seen it, he clears two guys and dunks acrobatically. On another, his head is next to the rim.

What’s most striking is not his vertical, but his body control and awareness. He remains a marginal NBA player - he’s 24 and on a two-way contract, which is sort of the definition of marginal - but people will talk about this for years. Just amazing.