First-year guard Hamidou Diallo of the Oklahoma City Thunder took home the crown with New York’s Dennis Smith Jr. finishing in second place. Diallo is the first player from the Oklahoma City/Seattle franchise to win the Dunk Contest since Desmond Mason did so in Washington D.C. in 2001.
On his first dunk, Bridges lobbed the ball underhand to the left side of the backboard while attempting to catch it midair, throw it between his legs and into the basket. The ball barely rattled out on all four attempts, registering a cumulative score of 33 for the round.
“I just wanted to start the Dunk Contest off strong,” said Bridges afterwards. “If I had made it, I felt like I would have had a pretty good score.”
Execution wasn’t a problem for Bridges the second time around through. With the help of teammate Kemba Walker, the Hornets point guard lofted the ball off the side of the backboard and Bridges – sporting a throwback Larry Johnson jersey and gold tooth – caught it midair, did a 360-degree spin to his left and slammed it through on just one attempt.
Bridges earned a perfect 50 from the panel of five judges, which included Johnson’s former Hornets teammate, Alonzo Mourning and 1991 Dunk Contest Champion, Dee Brown.
“I was actually surprised I made it on the first try because I lost the ball a little bit,” added Bridges. “Kemba threw a good pass. I’m just happy I could get some points.”
Atlanta’s John Collins finished in fourth place, although nearly cleared a scaled-down Wright Brothers airplane on his second attempt. Other notable dunks included Smith Jr. jumping over rapper and fellow North Carolina native J. Cole, while Diallo scaled Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal, finishing with his elbow fully inside the rim.
“I knew [Hamidou] had bounce,” added Bridges. “A lot of people didn’t know about him, but they do now. He had a strategy down and he made all his dunks”
When asked about whether he would return for next year’s competition, Bridges was non-committal. So far, Rex Chapman is the only player in franchise history to make two appearances in the Dunk Contest (1990 and 1991).
The festivities wrap up tomorrow night with first-time starter Kemba Walker and Team Giannis taking on Team LeBron in the NBA All-Star Game. Play gets underway starting at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.