Dallas Mavericks’ sensational rookie Dennis Smith Jr. will be one of the participants in the 2018 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest as part of All-Star Saturday’s events. He had a chance to give fans a preview of the tricks he had up his sleeve for the competition in the closing seconds of the Rising Stars game Friday night.
Unfortunately, he missed the dunk attempt. So, did Team USA teammate John Collins of the Atlanta Hawks.
Dennis Smith Jr & John Collins Missed Dunk #Shaqtin pic.twitter.com/leNG5tWiyB
— Gustavo (@iamvega1982) February 17, 2018
Despite the miss, Mavs.com inside reporter Earl K. Sneed says that Smith is confident that he won’t be missing any of his attempts when the competition starts.
“Dennis Smith Jr. on the final missed dunk: ‘I shouldn’t have even did that. I’m making all my dunks tomorrow, though. I know that much.’ He adds that he thought his head was about to hit the rim, and he has a visible bruise on his right forearm from punishing the rim.”
For the dunk contest, he will be going up against power forward/center Larry Nance Jr. of the Cleveland Cavaliers, rookie shooting guard Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, and shooting guard Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers.
Dennis Smith Jr. played in the 2018 Mtn Dew Kickstart Rising Stars Challenge at the Staples Center representing Team USA. Unfortunately, his team lost to Team World as they were dominated 155-124. He finished the game with seven points, four rebounds, and six assists in 21 minutes of playing time.
Sacramento Kings rookie Bogdan Bogdanovic won MVP honors after scoring 26 points, shooting 7-of-13 on three-point attempts and adding six assists.
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