Thunder rookie Hamidou Diallo entered All-Star Saturday Night with the lowest odds of winning the Slam Dunk Contest but he stole the show as the winner of the event.
Competing against Miles Bridge, John Collins and Dennis Smith Jr., Diallo may not have been a household name to some but he certainly earned some new fans Saturday after his array of dunks.
Diallo started off in the first round with an assist from teammate Russell Westbrook. He caught a pass off of the side of the backboard from Westbrook and windmilled the dunk in with his off-hand, a dunk that earned a score of 48 from the panel of judges.
Diallo was perfect for his second dunk.
Prior to his second attempt, Diallo searched for the tallest person in the crowd. After a few moments, he picked Shaq to help him out as a prop. Just before he took off, he flashed a Superman undershirt, paying homage to the Hall of Famer.
Diallo and Smith advanced to the championship round with the two trading off two dunks apiece. In the final round, Smith struggled with a couple of his ideas as it took him multiple attempts to finally throw them down.
For his final act, Diallo jumped over yet another person: Quavo of Migos.
Although Quavo is not quite as tall as the 7-foot-1 Shaq, the dunk was impressive and he managed to throw it down on his first try.
Overall, it was a great night for Diallo. He walked away from the event as essentially the unanimous winner for the two dunks over Shaq and Quavo alone.
Some are already beginning to ask if his dunk over Shaq was the greatest in the history of the contest. While that may be a bit premature to determine, Diallo proved to be a great contestant.
