CHARLOTTE --
Update! 11:00 pm: After a few hours to rest up in the afternoon, the Thunder’s trio trickled into Spectrum Center one by one, with Hamidou Diallo coming over first to get suited up in his turquoise Oklahoma City Thunder Native American City Edition jersey and to lace up his special Queens, N.Y.-themed shoes. Diallo took photos with his fellow AT&T Slam Dunk Competition foes, Miles Bridges (CHA), Dennis Smith Jr (NYK) and John Collins (ATL), all of whom either currently play or played in the state of North Carolina in college.
While Diallo was gearing up for his high-flying act on center stage, Paul George and Russell Westbrook were in back rooms at the arena finding ways to touch the lives of some special fans. George met with children from the Targeted Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), which is a support system for families of America’s fallen veterans. George gave some words of encouragement, explained his road to recovery after sustaining a devastating leg injury and then fielded some questions from the kids.
Up in a suite, a group from the Make-A-Wish program were milling about, enjoying some food and awaiting the start of the 3-Point Contest when suddenly the door burst open and Westbrook waltzed through the door. Westbrook spent time talking with the families, signing autographs, taking photos and giving out some words of encouragement before hustling back down to court level. His teammate Diallo needed him.
On Diallo’s very first dunk attempt he called Westbrook out from the crowd to give him the assist, as he’s done many times this season. In fact, Westbrook averages the most assists that lead to dunks per game (2.49) in the NBA so far this season. Westbrook tossed the ball gently off the side of the backboard and Diallo plucked it out of the air and slammed home a powerful one-handed, lefty windmill jam. Diallo earned the highest first-dunk score with a 48 out of 50.
For the second dunk, Diallo brought out a rack of balls, but decided it wasn’t tall enough. So instead he brought out Shaquille O’Neal and placed him in front of the rim. As Diallo walked back to the three-point line, he separated his jersey a bit to show off a Superman jersey underneath, quietly giving the camera a glimpse while O’Neal was facing the rim. Diallo then jumped over the legendary, NBA Hall of Fame 7-foot-1 center and put his elbow into the rim to finish off the slam.
“It was a pretty well thought out process,” Diallo admitted. “It was all about being creative.”
As he hung in place on the rim, he opened up his jersey to remind everyone he could jump over a building, or at least a human skyscraper. After Diallo returned to earth and gave Thunder teammate Raymond Felton a high-five, there was no doubt about it. Diallo received a perfect score of 50 and moved on to the finals to face Smith Jr.
Smith Jr. went first but couldn’t complete his first finals dunk and received a score of 35, leaving Diallo with the task of having to seal the deal. Diallo lobbed one up high in the air, let it bounce and when the ball came back up he slammed it home with the left hand, earning a score of 43. With the help of fellow North Carolinian Stephen Curry’s pass, Smith leapt over Dwyane Wade and earned a perfect score of 50.
Playing up to the crowd by waving his arms for some extra energy, Diallo positioned Migos rapper Quavo on the block, with a ball resting on the back of his head. The Thunder rookie rushed in from the wing, snagged the ball and slammed it with two hands. With a score of 45 Diallo cleared the final number he needed and was named the 2019 AT&T Slam Dunk Champion. It was the first time that a Thunder player has won an All-Star Saturday Night competition, and also the first time an African player has won an All-Star award.
“I just went out there and I knew if I did what I had to do, I was going to bring a trophy home,” Diallo grinned. “It was just great being out there, great competing with those guys.”
After the trophy ceremony, Diallo was mobbed by his teammates – Westbrook, George and Felton, capping a whirlwind of an All-Star Saturday in which Oklahoma City was very, very well represented.
“That’s what it’s all about. We all came out here as one, as Thunder Nation,” said Diallo, before putting a little good-spirited competitive pressure on George and Westbrook. “We wanted to bring home, of course, first this NBA Slam Dunk, and now tomorrow hopefully one of those guys take care of business on that side and bring something else home too, so we can bring a lot of trophies back to Oklahoma.”
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4:00 pm: After media availability concluded in the morning, George and Westbrook went back to the locker rooms, donned some All-Star gear and took photos with family. Then it was time for practice.
While not exactly a rigorous spectacle, the All-Star practice was a chance for the players from Team Giannis to hit the court together for the first time and get a little light shooting and warmup in before the big game on Sunday. Both Thunder players gave interviews on the court for the fans to hear, as George and Westbrook jerseys could be seen scattered throughout the arena.
Immediately upon the conclusion of practice, both George and Westbrook went over to a Nike House of Hoops pop up shop near the Spectrum Center to drop in on some unsuspecting high school basketball teams. They went through a few activations to show off some of their new shoes and sat down for a joint interview that produced some high praise for one another.
“P has been playing at an extremely high level. We just want to keep it going,” said Westbrook of George.
“(Russ) can dictate and make the game do what he wants it to do,” said George, returning the compliment. “We play well off of each other.”
When the Nike event wrapped up, Westbrook was off to the next stop, a Mountain Dew event with a live audience awaiting his arrival. Once on stage, Westbrook and his younger brother Ray played a few games, entertained the crowd and brought their brotherly charm to the Queen City.
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11:00 a.m.: “Bito!” shouted a familiar voice in the crowded sea of people that surrounded Paul George’s podium inside Bojangles Coliseum on Saturday morning. Derailing an answer he was giving, George flashed a wide smile, his eyes lit up and he poked his head up to see above the throng of media members to respond to the call. “Bito!” George responded, tracking Russell Westbrook as he sliced through the crowd, sunglasses on and en route to his own podium.
Saturday morning at All-Star is perhaps the biggest NBA media convention of the entire year, with outlets from all over the globe coming in to pepper players with a variety of questions. From X’s and O’s talk to offseason chatter to silly personal questions, George and Westbrook have been through that ringer before, but today was rookie Hamidou Diallo’s first crack at it. Like he has with all the hoopla that surrounds All-Star Weekend and the dunk contest he’ll compete in tonight, the 20-year-old rookie handled it all like a champ.
“It’s been great. It’s been a lot of fun. For me to come out here and just be here, representing Oklahoma City, representing New York City is an honor,” said Diallo. “I would say my first time it’s more just getting the hang of things and just happy to be here.”
“Everybody on my team wants to see me win, same as I would want to see them win,” Diallo added. “They’re just happy I’m in it and they’re just supporting me and they just can’t wait for me to go out there and do what I do.”
While Diallo and his teammates are hoping he’ll come away with a Slam Dunk trophy, there’s already been buzz this season about George being a leading candidate for the NBA’s MVP trophy. The dynamic forward might be able to add to his career-best season if he comes away with an All-Star Game MVP trophy too. Westbrook, a two-time All-Star MVP, has seen the way George has impacted the Thunder all year, and both players know there’s a bit of a feeling out process that happens early in the game that determines whose star shines brightest on Sunday night.
“(George) has been spectacular just finding ways to make the game easy for all of us,” noted Westbrook. “He competes at a high level on both ends, defending, scoring and putting us in a position to win games.”
“It’s really to have fun, to see how the first couple shots go,” said George. “If it feels like it’s your night, you go for it.”
Over the past couple decades the All-Star Game has been much more of a shootout and layup line than a defensive battle, but with the competitive streak that both Westbrook and George will bring to Team Giannis, the Thunder duo is hoping for a more tenacious battle. Other stars might not bring it to the aggressive level that Westbrook and George will, but these Thunder guys only know one way to play.
“Honestly, it don’t really matter to me,” Westbrook quipped. “I’m going to go out there and compete and that’s it.”
“I’m all for having a good game. I’m all for playing defense,” George added. “I’m all for really giving the fans a show and having them have something to really cheer for as opposed to just seeing us dunk. They’ve seen us do that hundreds of times. I’m all for it to try and take it to a competitive level.”
Both George and Westbrook also have their families here with them in Charlotte to enjoy the All-Star festivities. On Friday, Westbrook and his son Noah strutted down the catwalk at a youth fashion show and Noah even made an appearance at media availability today as well. As the Thunder duo squares off against the best of the world’s very best on Sunday night, their families will be in attendance as well.
“It’s always special,” said Westbrook. “My family is always with me so every time I get an opportunity to be able to bring my family and they can enjoy All-Star Weekend, it’s always great.”
“It’s awesome to have my kids, my niece, my nephews here to be a part of this. They love basketball,” George echoed. “My parents get to see familiar faces. They get to be around legends that they’ve watched. I think it’s just dope that I get to share this with them. I never take this for granted. It’s always fun being an All-Star.”