The NBA All-Star Weekend is taking place in Charlotte at the moment, with a number of star studded events taking place across three days of action. While the showpiece All-Star game will take place later tonight, Saturday's events are always grab your attention.
Joe Harris and Jayson Tatum came away with the three-point contest and skills competition crowns respectively, but it was the dunk competition that got everybody talking. It is an event that can sometimes flatter to deceive, but there were some incredible feats of athleticism on show this year.
The four contestants were not exactly household names, all being first or second year NBA players. Hamidou Diallo of the Oklahoma City Thunder would walk away with the crown, producing one of the best dunks we have seen in recent years in the process.
Diallo called NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal onto the court to use as a prop, before proceeding to jump right over the 7-foot-1 Hall of Famer and coming up with the nasty elbow finish. Take a look at this:
🚨 SUPERMAN ALERT! 🚨
Hamidou Diallo leaps over @SHAQ and finishes with the HONEY DIP DUNK for a 5⃣0⃣! 😤😤#ATTSlamDunk #StateFarmSaturday @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/izASQbFDYC— NBA (@NBA) February 17, 2019
Incredible stuff! The Superman costume has been a running theme in dunk contests for a number of years now, and is a nickname Shaquille O'Neal himself sported during his playing days.
It looks even better in slow motion:
#ATTSlamDunk champion Hamidou Diallo RISES over @SHAQ in #PhantomCam! #StateFarmSaturday pic.twitter.com/U2oAezayC6
— NBA (@NBA) February 17, 2019
The elbow in the rim is of course a nod to Vince Carter's effort in the 2000 edition of the contest, one of the most famous dunking performances of all time.
Diallo's dunk is perhaps even more impressive, considering he jumped over a 7-footer in the process. His performance will make him a well-known names amongst NBA fans, having been a relative unknown before this. The 6-foot-5 guard is averaging 4.2PPG and 2.1RPG in just over 11 minutes of action for the Thunder this season.
You can watch the rest of the dunks from last night's event below. Keep an eye out for the use of a prop plane from John Collins, and Dennis Smith Jr's dunk over rapper J Cole.
💥💥 Every dunk from the 2019 #ATTSlamDunk contest! #NBAAllStar #StateFarmSaturday pic.twitter.com/WDNxYWFtHh
— NBA (@NBA) February 17, 2019
